The Road Home
by tronderjenta
Summary: About the life of the sunshine-boy and the tomato. Minato finds himself separated from the place he wants to be again and again. In times of war, he finds himself far from home longer than he wants; and home is not just the village he grew up in. Rated M for violence. Mostly.
1. Prologue

**Second morethanaoneshot-story!**

**This story will be about Minato and Kushina and their lives in war. All in all it's a love story (like 90% of the MinaKushi stories on this site), but I've planned for it to be a lot more than just ohmygoshihaveacrushonhim and whoops, there comes a baby.  
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**This first chapter is just about Minato and Kushina's general childhood, built upon what we already know around the time they graduated. I have ideas for the later chapters, but don't expect incoming chapters every week, 'cause I'm rather busy ...  
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**But enjoy nevertheless! I appreciate reviews =)  
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**1. Prologue**

If it hadn't been for the gloomy girl next to him, the blonde-and-bright-like-sunshine-boy's start at the academy would've been good. Very good, indeed. He had made an attempt to start a conversation with the girl, but had simply received a sharp look which made it feel like his head was being sliced in half in her thoughts. He had decided it was best to keep silent after that.

Uzumaki Kushina had made sure Namikaze Minato had an uncomfortable start of his ninja days.

The truth was, Minato had admired the girl at first – nothing she even suspected or ever would suspect him to do. She had come bursting in and claimed her place in the classroom, appearing to be neither afraid of the people around her nor scared to be there all by herself. Though she was scared shitless, and she would never admit that to anyone.

When the boys had started mocking her during the first break, the sunshine boy would've been more than happy to step in and make those bullies shut up. He had a certain effect on people. Not because he was very threatening by nature, but because he was a prodigy, one they would soon only dream to surpass in that very classroom. And besides, he was very popular. He was kind, good-hearted and brightened most people's days (except from those he would be killing in only a few years time). If they got on his bad side, they would be kissing their hopes for popularity among the girls goodbye.

He was actually about to jump up to aid the girl who was being bullied for the color of her hair and her round cheeks, when she did something very unexpected for a girl.

She hit them back.

Hard.

And now, the boy had been assigned a seat next to her, and felt the uncomfortable silence push them down. He wanted to give her a compliment about her actions, tell her she was cool for giving them the comeback of the year (which included band-aids in various areas) when most girls would simply crouch down in a corner and cry. Though when he had reached out his hand to wish her welcome to Konoha, he was dead in Uzumaki Kushina's head.

So he kindly shut up and waited for the teacher to finish sorting the papers in his hands.

The teacher had introduced her as an intern student from the Whirlpool country. Minato knew about that country; it was small, and besides a very conflicted area. The Eddy village, where Kushina came from, was full of riots between the villagers. Minato assumed the girl had come here because of the riots – maybe her family was in a bad position, maybe they had all moved to Konoha to give her the childhood of a lifetime?

Oh, if only he knew how wrong he was.

It took a few days for Kushina to speak to him. They had been given a task they were to complete with the person next to them, which meant that Kushina and Minato would be working together.

"Hey, Minato," one of the bullies, Rabi, said behind him. "You can work with us, I don't think you want to have anything to do with that _tomato _over there."

A vein snapped in Kushina's face.

Minato looked coolly at him. "I don't mind."

Kushina snorted. "You just want to grab the opportunity to mock me, don't you?"

Minato was surprised to hear her speak to him for the first time. "That's not what I meant," he said calmly.

Kushina shot him a look again, but it missed the sharp killing-intent. Instead, she looked a tad bit skeptical, considering the words he was saying. But she soon had her gloomy look on her again. Minato thought it didn't suit her very well.

"Fine."

"Fine," Minato said as equally calm as always, glad they had come to an agreement at least.

The task proved to be easy for Minato, but not as easy when he had to explain it all to Kushina. She didn't try very hard to understand the task, as if she didn't take it seriously. Minato tried to explain to her why she had to learn this, how it would come in handy when they passed the Academy exams and got out in the real ninja world, but she simply waved it off and continued to stare out of the window.

But even though Kushina was pretty much useless when it came to theoretical tasks, she was above average when it came to the physical tests. Way above.

"Top score, Kushina," the teacher said supportive when Kushina hit three of the marked spots on the wooden man about thirty feet away. She had hit the man right in the liver, one kidney and the middle of the face – more or less a straight kill. She was pleased with herself.

Nevertheless, the bullies did not stop trying.

"Hah! Just a lucky fluke," Rabi burst out.

"Yeah!" Keigo agreed. "What good is she, anyway? Bet she couldn't do that twice!"

The boys shut up once Kushina had grabbed a fourth kunai and shoved it straight in the wooden man's invisible genitalia with a speed of several miles an hour. Minato could not help but grin, and he could barely stop even though Kushina glared gloomily at him, said "What're you smirking at?" and kept thinking of him as an idiot for the rest of the day. She was glad, though, that she had made the boys shut up as quickly as she had.

Minato would never succeed in making a good conversation with Kushina; not during their Academy days, anyway. He tried. Oh, he tried, and he tried hard. But Kushina had shut everyone out, and in the end, Minato had to sigh and accept that he could do nothing but wait until the girl was ready to open herself up for friendships.

One day, during a break at the Academy, Minato had again tried to speak to her. This time to congratulate her for her good scores on the shuriken test that day. Kushina answered with things like him being a jealous little kid, a flake, a girl. He was enlightened with facts about him looking weak and such, but that she surely wouldn't train up a little baby like him, because it would waste her time.

In between all this, she had said she wouldn't be there for long. Minato had wondered why, but was kindly asked to keep his nose out of her business. That's when he thought he should just wait; if she wanted to be alone, it was her own choice.

Little did he know that it wasn't her own choice. First of all, she had been sent to the village by force. In the beginning, she hadn't even known why she was sent there at all. She was happy her older brother had joined her so she could live with him instead of being sent off to one of those foster homes or orphanages, as if she was a parentless child. Because she wasn't; her parents were in the Eddy village, fighting, and Kushina could not wait to get back there and fight with them. Even her older brother was going back soon, once Kushina had graduated. That was why she, from the beginning, trained very hard to fight; and who cared if she passed the theoretical tests or not? She wouldn't need those if she was to physically fight for her village.

Over the years at the academy, Kushina grew far stronger than even most boys their age. And as she grew, she became more locked-up. She turned up at school one day, very distant in her mind. She didn't even bother to talk back at the bullies. Minato worked up the courage to ask her if something was wrong, and at first she had been a bit confused and hadn't really answered anything other than _uhm _and _no_, but when he insisted, he turned back into her old self and snapped at him. Minato thought of himself as weird for being relieved when Kushina got angry again.

Kushina graduated as a Genin at the same time as Minato, and was assigned a team in Konoha which she was to train with for a certain time (which was planned to be a long time; her condition was strictly described as 'dangerous' and 'under supervision', which held her back by force) before she could join her parents and older brother back in her home village. She ended up at the same team as Rabi and that Inuzuka girl, Tsume (they were low on boys in that class). Rabi could not stop ranting about how annoying that Uzumaki girl was, how she would make big mistakes at the training field and how she almost made their whole team fail to pass their first test to see if they actually fit the life of ninja. Tsume, on the other hand, would happily beg to differ. She humiliated him with the story of how he walked into the simplest traps and how their team leader had trailed him for ten whole minutes before he eventually had to show himself and ask Rabi where his focus was at.

Kushina was happy she had been assigned the same team as Tsume. She got along with the girl; she wasn't like one of those squealing, gossiping girls who would pretend to wave off bad smell once they passed or who was frequently updating the life of Minato and who he was currently crushing on. Kushina hated those girls. She wasn't particularly fond of Minato either, but she had to smirk at the thought of him being nicer and talking more to her than he did to those girls.

Minato seemed satisfied every time Kushina replied to him. During the past six months as Genin she had grown off a little of the closed-up-ness she had had during the Academy, which he thanked Tsume for. Her replies weren't very informative or engaged; she was still a bit gloomy once anyone spoke to her. And she still didn't take him seriously, even though she had heard about him being a prodigy, one of a kind, blah blah blah. He still looked like a weak girly-boy to her.

It was on the night she came home from a training session with Tsume, when she would find her apartment trashed and all the windows and her front door broken, when she was attacked three-on-one, when she was being led out of the village – it was on this night she would change her point of view on the girly-boy.

As he carried her back home to Konoha, he didn't seem so girly anymore.

* * *

"Alright ... No serious injuries, but you're exhausted. You are to stay here for the night."

"What?" Kushina complained, though in a weakened tone. "I'm fine, I can rest at home."

"Unfortunately, you can't," the medic-nin replied sharply. "If someone makes another attempt of kidnapping or hurting you, you won't be able to defend yourself. You're low on chakra and don't have the energy to stand up to ninja of chuunin or jounin level."

Kushina growled. She hated hospitals. They only reminded her of the night Mito-sama passed away and she was honored with the task of hosting a monster.

"We've assigned two ANBU outside and two ANBU inside your room to watch over you."

Kushina didn't reply, she just stared at the empty wall. She did, however, lift her head at the sound of knocks on the door.

"Come in," the medic-nin said.

The door opened itself and revealed one of the two ANBU standing guard outside the hospital room.

"Namikaze-kun has requested a visit," the ANBU said, revealing her feminine voice.

Kushina felt her cheeks grow rapidly red and warm and tugged hard on the blanket covering her legs in her sitting position. The medic-nin turned to Kushina to see her response.

Kushina nodded curtly and started fiddling with her hair.

"Send him in," the medic-nin answered. "But make sure he leaves after ten minutes, Kushina needs her rest."

The ANBU woman stepped aside and let the boy in. Kushina looked in his eyes for three seconds of eternity before she snapped her head back to look at the wall again. Minato entered the room while the medic-nin left, only leaving behind a mixture Kushina was to drink in the morning.

"How are you doing?" Minato asked with a soothing smile as he arrived at the bed.

"Uhm, fine," Kushina replied. She had tried to keep her voice steady, but the exhaustion made it tremble.

Minato looked at her for a short moment before he spoke again.

"I can leave and come back tomorrow if you want."

"No, stay!" Kushina blurted out, and her cheeks reached a redness equal to her hair. "Eh ... It's okay, you know ..."

Minato chuckled, and sat down at the edge of her bed as she motioned for him to do.

"You know ..." she continued while trying to release her finger from a tangle in her hair. "Thank you for rescuing me."

"No need to thank me," Minato smiled.

"No, really," Kushina insisted, and let out the thing that had bothered her ever since she arrived at the hospital in his arms. "I haven't even been nice to you. I've barely bothered trying to speak to you, yet you fight for me as though we've been friends for years!"

"Kushina," Minato said sternly, and the girl almost cowered of the intense look. "Even though we've barely spoken you've never been directly mean to me. I've never considered you as an enemy or burden, you are a comrade, a friend even."

Kushina blinked. Minato's serious expression turned to a mild one. He reached out a hand.

"Friends?"

Kushina smiled back at him and released her hand from her hair in a rough move to grab it.

"Visiting time is over," one of the ANBU said.

Minato made a promise to visit her at her house the following day, which he held. They soon made regular plans. Not dates, not at all; the plans involved sparring, training, exhausting each other and occasionally sending each other to the emergency room for minor treatments. The bad conscience ended up as a visit to Ichiraku's to treat the wounded a bowl of ramen or five.

In the end, the two of them had become inseparable.

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**That's it for now. Second chapter is more or less finished, but I'll wait a little longer with publishing it :) I just have no idea when I'll get to write more, with a new semester starting and loads of things happening. But if you're keen on reading more, keep an eye up for updates and feel free to follow or fav!**

**Thanks for reading!  
**


	2. The Mission

**Just a bit of background information:**

**The story is now set on the beginning of the Second Shinobi World War, when the Rain was led by Hanzou of the Salamander. The First War led the Five Great Shinobi countries to exhaustion, and the Second War started when they managed to build themselves up again. The general interest was to expand their lands. ****In this chapter, war hasn't been announced yet, but there are rumors, tension between the countries and spies everywhere. Most missions are either watching the borders for the chuunin or scouting for the jounin.**

**I don't know how old Minato actually was during the Second War, so I kind of guessed. But I know the Third had been Hokage since the previous war (which means he's not _that _young anymore) and that Jiraiya was rather young and about thirteen-fourteen years older than Minato, so I don't think I'm that far off.**

**:)  
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**2. The Mission**

At the age of thirteen, most shinobi would feel as though they were already grown-up, with responsibility and skill like shinobi in their early twenties. One felt even more skilled and possibly a bit too old when promoted chuunin, especially when no one else in the same class had. Of course, Minato had passed the chuunin exam a year ago, but that was to nobody's surprise. For Kushina, being promoted chuunin a year later than the prodigy of the decade was like being crowned king.

The two young chuunin strolled down a narrow, busy street in Konoha, discussing rumors they had heard lately. Minato smiled, but didn't comment on it in fear of being knocked out – but Kushina's sudden urge to talk about anything shinobi-related, war-related or training-related was both amusing and admirable.

Plus, Kushina had learned some rather scary techniques, and Minato did not want to be their first victim.

He truly looked up to Kushina. She had adjusted to the fact that she was likely to stay in Konoha for the rest of her life. Whirlpool had become very weak, and its' future didn't look bright. Her parents had been murdered less than a year ago, which had been a tough time for her, but she was strong in mind. Minato knew well that she was more worried about her brother than anything, and she couldn't just run out to Whirlpool to help; she had accepted her situation as a Jinchuuriki and knew how dangerous it could be if she went out. At times she would be furious about everything, but she was never one to be angry for long terms.

"By the way, what did the Hokage want?" Kushina asked as she remembered Minato had rushed off after their training session the night before when an ANBU had showed up, calling for him. Minato cursed silently.

"Just something about a mission," Minato said and tried to keep his face casual. "I'm heading out to the border."

"The border?" Kushina said, and he realized there was no use pretending. "What's the old man got for you there?"

Minato had tried to keep the subject delayed, and didn't want to tell her all the details yet. First of all, he was going to make her sad. Second, he was already worried himself, and making her sad wouldn't be much help. Third … well, it was just difficult to talk about. At least with Kushina. But she'd know if he didn't tell the truth, because he'd never managed to succeed in the art of lying to her.

"They've had some trouble, and Hokage-sama is short on jounin," Minato said and found the space in front of him more tempting to look at than down at his best friend's interrogating face. "Apparently, some of the rumors you've heard are true. The Rain is sending scouts over the borders. They need someone to track down their routes and hold them back."

"And that's your task?"

Minato nodded.

"For how long?"

The silent question hung in the air above them. It felt as though heavy rain was falling on Minato's head, yet the sky was blue and the sun was shining.

"Look," he said, unable to answer the question. "Why don't we meet up later? I can stop by your place."

Kushina shrugged, deciding to leave the matter. It wasn't like she couldn't get an answer out of him later.

"Alright," Minato smiled, trying not to sound too relieved. "Take this, I'm kinda busy tonight ..." He handed Kushina one of his three-pronged kunai. Minato had insisted on keeping one in her apartment at all times in case something happened, but she had refused out of mere principle – it was too creepy, having a tool that could allow a man to appear in the middle of her living room whenever he wanted. Though for single-uses, it was alright, so Kushina accepted it.

"I gotta go, loads to do," he said. "See you."

He headed back where they came from, leaving Kushina standing with a long glare after him.

Back in his apartment, he locked the door behind him and entered the living room, which was complete with a rather small television, a battered couch with a table, a kitchen corner and a cramped balcony. It wasn't much, but since he lived alone, there was space enough. He threw one look at the opened letter lying on the table, and sat down to read it once more to make sure he hadn't missed any important details.

He hadn't.

He looked around the living room. He hadn't needed many boxes to pack everything down. He wasn't very fond of possessions, so when his father had passed away, he had only kept a few treasures. A photo of his parents, a vase his mother had been particularly fond of, and the gloves his father had used to wear. He had saved them for later years, when they might fit. And as he thought about it, he might as well pack them in his bag …

Normally, thirteen-year-old boys would be tall by now, and clothes their fathers had worn would fit more or less, at least clothing like gloves and shoes. Though Minato was quite late in growing – he was still rather skinny, and was not much taller than even Kushina, who had reached a whole meter and sixty centimeters. He was just happy he wasn't being teased for it; being known as a prodigy and a genius, and a strong one at that, didn't exactly tempt bullies to poke him.

He had to snort a little at how much Kushina had developed, though. She had always had sort of a baby's appearance: round, pink cheeks, bright red hair which framed her face (Minato couldn't blame most people for thinking of tomatoes when they saw her) and pretty much a flat chest. But when they had reached their teens she had shot in the air, her face had evened out and her hair had grown darker and longer.

It was a shame he wouldn't get to see her grow up.

The sun set and tiny stars appeared on the dark blue sky. Minato sat in his empty living-room, feeling the emptiness of chakra after delivering boxes after boxes at Jiraiya's place using his Hiraishin technique. He could have walked, but the distance was too long; he wouldn't have had time to visit Kushina.

He sighed. The apartment had been nothing more than a stop-by, where he could sleep and eat when he wasn't walking down streets, taking missions outside the village or visiting people. He didn't like being alone all day. Yet leaving it empty like this felt weird, as though he'd never have anything to come back to.

_Wrong, _he thought with a smile.

A sudden, familiar feeling, like a tap on the shoulder, shot through his mind for only a moment, and it didn't take longer than that for him to disappear from the middle of his living-room floor and reappear in Kushina's small hallway. His hand gripped the flying kunai of reflex and his senses were sharpened, looking for possible threats – but the only thing he could find was the intense glare of a certain redhead.

Minato blinked in confusion and straightened up.

"What's wrong with you?" Kushina asked.

"Huh?"

"There's something you're not telling me. What is it?"

Minato stood still for a moment. Then, with a sigh, he passed her in the doorway, entered the familiar kitchen and dropped the kunai on the table. He walked out on the balcony, which was slightly larger than his. Sitting down on the rail and looking down on the street below, he waited for Kushina to join him. After a moment, she was the first to speak.

"How many years?"

So she had figured. Of course she had.

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**I****'m trying out short chapters - what d'you think about that? At least that way it's easier for me to update about once every week.  
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	3. Never Forget

**3. Never Forget**

"How many?" Kushina persuaded.

"Dunno," Minato replied in honesty. "Hokage-sama looked rather troubled when I came to his office. Said the rumors about war were far from what he fears is going to happen. Keeping the Rain out of the Fire Country isn't going to keep the conflicts at hold."

"So keeping them out of the country isn't your only mission," Kushina said. It wasn't a question.

Minato shook his head. "It's my first mission. But I won't be answering to Hokage-sama's orders, I'll be under the command of the border's squad. They say that if a war breaks out, which is likely to happen … it'll be a few years. Three or four."

There was silence for a moment. Minato felt like he had so much more to say, but his voice had dropped to the floor. Only when Kushina gave the smallest of sighs did he pick it up.

"Look, Kushina, I -"

"Hey, I get it," Kushina interrupted. She didn't smile, nor did she look angry or troubled. "It's your duty as a shinobi, I know that. I've been waiting for something like this to happen. And -" She grabbed Mianto's shoulder, turning him slightly to look at her. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"I know," Minato said with a faint smile. "I'm going to miss you, though."

Kushina snorted in reply. It was the closest to a thank you he'd ever get, so he took it gratefully.

He left the following day. Jiraiya joined – he was walking with them for a certain distance, heading for his own mission – and a few came to see him off. He hadn't told many about his departure to the border, though there were barely any left to tell. Since the ANBU and jounin had been almost thrown out of the village on a mission frenzy, chuunin had been sent out to aid them or take on the smaller, yet still dangerous missions. The only reason Minato hadn't been sent out yet was because Jiraiya had insisted on completing his kuchiyose training, which would better armor him. The only reason Kushina hadn't been sent out at all, was because of the Kyuubi. While the secret of the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki remained, indeed, a secret, she was to train so she wouldn't lose control of its' powers while fighting the enemy.

It was a dull and gray morning. A mist was hanging around the village, and small drops of rain appeared here and there, making the air humid in the otherwise warm and sunny village. Minato wished it had been like that now; he didn't want to remember his home like gray and depressed, but sunny and carefree.

When the last chuunin of the departure arrived, they picked up their bags to leave. Minato turned to Kushina.

"Give me your arm," she said. Her expression was hard as Minato reached out his arm curiously. Kushina picked something up from her pocket and fastened it around his arm. It was a dark brown leather bracelet, whirled thrice around his wrist and locked carefully with a small copper piece. Minato smiled.

"Don't forget about me," Kushina said warningly.

"Promise," Minato said, stepped forward and kissed her on the forehead.

It was the second time in two days he left Kushina standing speechless.

* * *

After keeping watch restlessly, fighting off enemy ninja at the smallest alert and spending the little spare time he got sleeping, Minato was rather surprised when he was reminded he had been at the border for three months. The Rain, hungry for more land to gain, was persistent in figuring out what weapons Konoha held, what their secret plans were and whatever weaknesses they had, which meant a lot of work for the squad at the border. The squad was led by Yuuhi Hiromu, a young but skilled jounin. There were twenty of them in total, all with different tasks and rankings, and Minato was the youngest. His main task was to keep watch, but he was also engaged in battle whenever they were short on back-up.

Things had intensified in a short time, so it was known to everyone that it was only a matter of time until war was knocking on the door.

Minato had just sat down at his regular post with Nara Kiraku, Shikaku's cousin, who was three years older than him and had been sent out at the same time as him. Despite Kiraku being pretty pessimistic and silent, they got along well, and with time he had managed to open him up, so they could talk freely. The whole process had felt rather familiar to something, and Minato had to smile.

"Isn't it your birthday soon?" Minato asked Kiraku.

"So you remembered, huh?" Kiraku answered. "It's next week."

Kiraku was soon sixteen, though the age difference between the two of them looked slightly larger. Minato hadn't grown the past three months either.

"So when're you gonna leave childhood?" Kiraku asked.

"Shut your trap," Minato said gloomily and led a pair of binoculars to his eyes to check out the rustling of a tree in the horizon. The only thing he managed to reveal was a bird hopping on a branch.

Kiraku grinned. "No offence, Minato. You'll grow soon enough."

Minato hoped so. Once people on the border figured out he'd never hurt a fly unless it threatened to kill him, they'd probably pick up the same attitude as Kiraku – though Kiraku never meant no harm, and Minato knew that.

"Any action here?"

General Hiromu had shown up for the nightly report. Both Minato and Kiraku shook their heads.

"Not much," Kiraku said. "We spotted two persons walking down a path earlier, but they didn't seem to be getting any closer. They left soon enough."

"Keep your eyes up for them", Hiromu said. "About half a year ago we had a lady with a basket of flowers for sale crossing the border. She killed four of our men."

They nodded, used to similar warnings and having experienced something among the same lines themselves. The last time Minato had a conflict with disguised enemy, the man had been an old grandfather pretending to forget the way home.

"Also, there are news of the Rain," Hiromu continued. "Akimichi Shiho met Jiraiya on his way back from a mission."

Jiraiya had been gathering information for the past three months, a dangerous and demanding task.

"Hanzou plans on leading the Rain against Konoha, and thus he has begun to train experts. Jiraiya got hold on information about a Genjutsu Master. Apparently, he is still young and under training, but his skills are extraordinary. Anyway, he warned us about him. He was sure that eventually, we'd have to face him."

"Did he mention when?" Kiraku asked.

Hiromu sighed and shook his head. "He wasn't sure. But he followed his training for a couple of days, and it seemed that his progress was rather slow."

"Could mean anything," Minato said. "For how long are we going to keep track on him?"

"Not much longer, I'm afraid. Jiraiya can't keep an eye on him forever, it's too dangerous. Besides, he has other information to gather."

Hiromu left them shortly after without much else to say.

After being released from the watch, Minato headed off to clean his weapons. He had rarely had time since the previous fights to clean them up; it was either straight to bed, straight to the emergency tent or straight to the watch post. It was with a hint of a smile and a feeling of pride that he wiped stained blood off his Hiraishin kunai. The enemy had taken notice of it, and even though Minato could only use it a few times a day without exhausting his chakra storage and still needed a lot of training to use it for all it was worth, it could still mean the death of some. Word had come around that the weird, three-pronged kunai was something to keep at distance whenever seen. This meant two things: one, it would be more difficult for Minato to use it against the enemy, therefore he would work out different strategies and improve. Two, the enemy showed fear. It made him feel somewhat stronger than he looked.

He couldn't wait to see what the enemy would say in a few years' time.

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**Okay, from here on I won't be too quick on updates.. even though I'm almost done with chapter 4, school has really caught up on me and I have to spend almost every day every week working on my three subjects. But I'll find time, because I hate publishing a story without finishing it!**

**So what d'you think so far?  
**


	4. The Day Off

**4. The Day Off**

Minato fell down on his bed, tired but restless, and not very pleased to be alone in the tent. The war had made things rather unpractical for him. First of all, he never had time to go deep into his training and work out his brilliant ideas - he more or less had to try things out on the battlefield. Second of all, it delayed his return home. As long as the war kept going, he was stuck outside his beloved village. Thirdly, he was constantly worried. He never doubted his comrades, but when most of them were sent directly into the Rain country to ambush half the front lines, something was bound to become tragedy.

Though he had to keep his head cold. They did their jobs, he had to do his own. And being sent out daily to assassinate s-ranked ninja on his own was considered more dangerous than anything in this war. Especially since he himself happened to have a fortune of a bounty on his head.

He considered himself lucky to have finally grown twenty centimeters after his arrival at the border. Being seventeen and as small and skinny as he had been before would have looked less authoritative.

"Hey, kid," Hiromu said as he entered the tent. "Good work today. Though you're not seriously considering going to bed like that?"

Minato made a drowsy noise and turned on his back. "'Course not," he said. He _had _actually wanted sleep more than anything, after forty-eight hours of running, scouting and fighting. For a moment it hadn't really mattered if he went to bed wearing Hanzou's bodyguard's blood or not.

He sat up.

"Your new mission," Hiromu began. "You can rest 'til Friday. The latest information tells us one of Hanzou's experts are setting up traps at our side of the border that day, waiting for reinforcements to either fall into them or to slay them himself. He's a trap expert, so watch your step."

Minato nodded shortly.

"I'll give you the details tomorrow, so get some rest."

Finally, Minato could get undressed, pull on a pair of sweatpants and dump back down on the bed. He removed a Hiraishin kunai from the pocket (they were rather uncomfortable to sleep at) and let it slip down on the floor, standing straight up and making a small crack in the wood.

People were still afraid of it, the Hiraishin kunai. Though they hadn't seen much of it yet, as Minato had mainly used it in front of people who were going to die right after they lay eyes on it. But he had found an advantage of that – few knew what to do when the kunai appeared in front of them, so many people backed off and kept it at distance. He sometimes used it to split up groups, sometimes to save comrades. And not only the enemy could recognize the tool; he had bumped into Konoha comrades at times, some he hadn't seen for years, who had asked him about it to confirm what they'd already heard.

The Hiraishin kunai was one thing he was never seen without. The other thing that had remained close to him ever since he left Konoha was a dark brown bracelet, whirled twice around his arm. It had once been clean and whole; now it was torn, chunks were threatening to come off and he was afraid it would fall off. But he didn't take it off – he couldn't, he wouldn't, because he felt that something bad would happen if he did. Maybe the bracelet acted as a lucky charm, or maybe it was just him being paranoid.

Or maybe he just missed his best friend.

He had heard talk about Kushina over the years, though not too much to get an idea of how she was doing. He had heard she was finally out taking longer missions outside the village, which meant she must have gained some sort of control of the Kyuubi. Her team was never too involved with the war, though – if the enemy found out she held a monstrous weapon inside of her, she was doomed to be kidnapped and possibly murdered for it. Also, when Ino-Shika-Chou had stopped by the border post, Shikaku had updated him on Inoichi's love life; he had started chasing after her. This had left Minato quite speechless, as Inoichi had never found Kushina to be pretty, and would only chase after anything that _was _pretty.

It made him rather curious.

Though not only rumors of Kushina's appearance were the things he heard. He had woken up one day two years ago to the news that the Whirlpool finally had fallen, and had no sooner found out that Kushina's last relative, her older brother, had fallen with it. He had been in deep thoughts that day, but had come to the conclusion that no matter how dear her brother was to her, she would get up and continue to fight; after all, she had acknowledged Konoha as her home, and she had worked hard her whole life to protect that phrase, even though it had originally been Whirlpool.

Also, he had found out that Kousuke was trying to find an opportunity to celebrate Minato's own, upcoming eighteenth birthday. If – and it was likely – he was planning this with Inoichi, Minato didn't know what to expect, and he wasn't so sure if he wanted to know either.

* * *

Having time off was a rare occasion, and Minato knew he should enjoy every single minute of it. But he was restless. The post was rather empty, more empty than usual – or maybe it always was, he hadn't stayed at the post for a whole day's length in some time. But that still only meant one thing: he didn't have anyone to keep him company.

Everyone else were busy, either working hard on planning missions or accomplishing them. He had Kiraku stopping by once to say hello before he went off again, and almost went to his regular watch post to ask if they needed any assistance, but this was his first day off in a month, and he knew he needed it. Though he felt like the whole day went to waste, pacing around the post.

In the end, he had cleaned all his weapons, washed all his clothes and paced about a billion times around the camp.

So he tried out actually sitting down and resting for once.

"Hey, what's up?"

Minato had sat down by a tree on the outside of the camp with some of Jiraiya's old scribbles that he had taken them with him, but hadn't read for several years. Now, not having seen his sensei in two years, he had found them again for the sentimentality. At the voice interrupting his peaceful criticizing, stated giggling and head-shaking, he turned and saw the face of a familiar comrade.

"Shikaku!" Minato smiled. "You're back already?"

"Yeah, the mission proved to be kinda easy in the end," Shikaku replied and lay down next to him and stared at the sky. "You know, I think Iwa is running out of skilled shinobi, I'm positive they sent us a troup of genin."

"I don't mind," Minato said, receiving an agreeing nod from Shikaku. "Are you staying here?"

"Yep. Ever since they sent those chuunin head-first into the Rain you've been kinda low on staff here, haven't you?"

"Sort of … I never really noticed, I'm barely here. Makes it really boring to have a day off, though."

"Well, you now have Inoichi to entertain you."

Minato snorted. "Is there a new girl?"

"Two, actually."

Minato raised an eyebrow.

"The first one was a spy, though," Shikaku grinned, and Minato laughed. "So he says it doesn't really count. Please remind him as much as you can, he needs to back off a few levels."

"Who's the second?"

"Well, since he never succeeded with Kushina, he tried to make her jealous," Shikaku said and rolled his eyes. "As if that's ever gonna work. 'Twas a local girl, never caught her name."

The blonde boy found himself smiling. Kushina had always had more pride than a rhino, and wouldn't be defeated so easily. Especially not for another girl – at least that was what she had been like, when they were young. He couldn't really say he knew her well anymore, but had his doubts that she wouldn't have kept a few of her old traits. He still remembered her signature snort and the stated look she would give anyone who acted stupid.

"So how 'bout you?" Shikaku asked. "Barely get time for girls, do you?"

"I spend most of my time with people I dislike," Minato snorted, thinking about all the enemies he had faced lately. "I've been at the camp three days altogether this month, and as you can see there aren't exactly a wide variety of people here."

"True. Well, it might interest you that Mikoto is pregnant."

Minato turned his head so quickly it felt like needles were stabbing it. Rubbing it with a pained look on his face, he said: "What? So soon?"

"Yeah, you know," Shikaku said knowingly and turned his lips slightly upwards at a sky that looked like Inoichi's head with the pony-tail. "She's always been the housewife type. Couldn't wait to get out of duty."

"Wow," Minato said. "Well, I guess you're right. And it's not like it ain't good news."

"Mm," Shikaku agreed. "Guess we'll all be there someday. With wives and children and all."

Minato smiled.

"Yeah."

* * *

**A bit of a tragic end. :( (no, it's not the end of the story, just the end of the chapter)  
**

**Excuse me for grammar faults if there are any, it's 6 in the morning and I spent the last 5 hours staring at the roof before I gave up on sleeping. Can't wait for school in three hours... Anyway! Before I get overtired and start to write nonsense, here's a list to get you updated on these names I've randomly put in:**

**Yuuhi Hiromu** is Kurenai's father (I have no idea if it is his real name, but apparently he doesn't have one yet. So I gave him one.)

**Inuzuka Kousuke** is Tsume's brother. Inventedly.

**Nara Kiraku **is Shikaku's cousin, also inventedly.

I also invented **Hanzou's bodyguard**, but he's dead, so it doesn't really matter anyway.

**Stay tuuuned :D**


	5. Caught in the Spider's Web

**5. Caught in the Spider's Web**

Friday arrived sooner than Minato had expected – it had been a whole day and a half of spare time, after all. He was woken up early by Hiromu to get ready, and set out as soon as he had been briefed with directions and advice. And despite the fact that the border between the Land of Fire and the unnamed country of the Rain village was not long at all, the trip to get there took quite a while, because the trap expert had prepared his traps as far away from the border posts as possible to gain time. As Minato ran fast and soundless through the thick forest, he thought out strategies to eliminate a trap user and could think out at least one fact that could be fatal for the outcome of the fight: he had never actually fought against a trap user before.

The advice he was given was mostly to slow down as he approached the spot and observe the area carefully. They didn't have much information about the trap expert himself, except that he was rather fast despite the size of him. Minato wondered just how big the man was, and thought the advice and information was rather useless.

He hadn't brought many weapons, thinking that being as small as possible would be wise. He had two Hiraishin kunai, and out of the two slender katanas he usually wore, he had taken one with him. He had left most of the weapon bags behind - he had even left his usual hooded jacket, wearing only the usual dark blue pants, sandals and a tank top. All that was left for him now was to find out when he would fall into the traps.

But the first thing he found as he closed in on the area was neither a trap or the trap expert himself, but a team of Konoha-nin.

"Hey, hold on!" he said loudly as he jumped out on the path some feet behind them. The team stopped and turned, panting and slightly breathless, apparently having ran for a longer time.

"Minato-san?" one of them said in surprise. It was Hyuuga Hizashi, accompanied by two older jounin Minato could vaguely remember.

"Hizashi-san," Minato replied. "You should take a detour. Make it as wide as possible, there's a trap expert from the Rain who's sabotaging reinforcements somewhere on this path."

"I see," Hizashi said, turned around and activated his Byakugan. After a short moment, he shared with the others what he could see. "Yes, I see it now, it's about a kilometer ahead. There's quite a wide range of wires and exploding tags." He turned back to Minato. "We probably would've noticed before, I usually check the environment regularly, especially in times like these. But thank you anyway, you've saved us a lot of time, I believe."

"No problem at all," Minato replied, but Hizashi didn't leave it at that. He stared curiously at Minato.

"If you don't mind me asking, what're you doing out here by yourself?" he asked.

"Sure. I'm after that guy," he said and pointed at the path ahead of them. "More reinforcements are coming today, and they'd lose valuable time if they had to take on those traps or make detours like you have to."

"Good luck with that," Hizashi smiled. "And be careful. Well, if it helps -" he turned and activated his Byakugan again, "He has set up wires connected to exploding tags, they're half a kilometer wide in range, but only about five feet in depth. He himself is sitting about thirty feet away, waiting."

"Thanks, that helps a lot," Minato said. The Konoha team set off on a different route, being in sort of a rush, and Minato continued down the path.

Now that he knew what he was up against, making a plan was much easier. Not that wires weren't a surprise – they were probably the most common trap to fall into – but he could at least push a few ideas to the back of his mind. Though he reacted to the fact that a trap expert would do something so simple.

He suspected wires and tags weren't the only thing he'd meet. He'd better be careful.

So Hizashi had said about a kilometer ahead … Which meant he'd soon have to sharpen his senses and look out for wires. If they were half a kilometer wide he'd only lose time going around them, and that meant more time for any reinforcements to bump into them and interrupt, and he didn't want that to happen. Firstly, if the trap expert had put up more traps Hizashi couldn't see they could fall into them, and secondly, the reinforcements were needed in the Rain, and they had to get there as soon as possible. The traps probably weren't as high as they were wide – maybe getting somewhere above them or below them would work. And then he'd have to defeat the trap expert himself. He could probably give the speed a challenge, but if the man was enormous, he could be a pain in the ass.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Hizashi for about four years. He had met his brother, Hiashi, a couple of times, and as they looked exactly the same he wasn't surprised to see how much he had grown. But he wished he could meet Hizashi under different circumstances; the two of them had gotten along well at the academy, and he always liked to see faces he hadn't seen ever since his departure from Konoha. It reminded him of home, and the fact that most of the people he met had either come directly from Konoha or were heading back, reassured him that home still existed. Not that he really had a place to stay there anymore -

The tiniest glow made him abruptly plant his heels in the soil, every muscle in his body tensed and only his heart made a single move as he stopped and stood there, facing a thin, light wire placed a few inches from his eyes. There were barely any shadow of it, but at a closer look, Minato discovered several layers of wires close to him. He had barely ran half a kilometer, how had all these wires come up so fast?

His first thought was to go backwards, but as he slowly, carefully turned his head to see if the coast was clear, he realized that it was not an option.

About a hundred wires had been set up closely behind him, every single one of them attached to some of the smallest exploding tags he had ever seen. Several wires surrounded his hands and legs.

A cold laugh interrupted his bare breathing.

"Another fly trapped in the spider's web. It's a shame you're only one, I'd hoped for a bigger prey."

A man, probably about seven feet tall and three feet wide, stood by one of the trees which held a few of the wires. There was an opening there for him to enter, and a piece of paper connected to a wire with a large seal on it. Minato noted two things immediately: one, he could only dream of getting to that opening. Two, he recognized a few of the markings on the seals. His eyes checked the ground, and a theory formed in his head.

But that wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he turned his focus on the trap expert instead. His face was difficult to read, because only his eyes were visible through the mechanical mask covering his head and his shoulders.

"Maybe I should wait and see if someone else falls into my trap and set it off themselves," the trap expert continued. He had an extremely cold voice, which gave Minato shivers down his spine. He did not shiver, however – he was afraid any move could set off the exploding tags. It sure was an easy way to assassinate the trap expert, though, since he was standing right beside it himself, but Minato would prefer another way to do it …

But he was trapped in what the enemy had called a 'spider's web', and being a helpless fly caught by a hungry spider was not his favorite way to begin his mission.

"Let me guess, you're a lone assassin from the border?" the trap expert asked in the same chilly voice.

"Yep," Minato said, a lot less nervously than he should.

The trap expert smirked. "Well, aren't you taking things easy? You're the first I've trapped who's ever talked so casually to me. Oh, hold on -" he looked like he just remembered something, "You're the first who ever had time to say anything. Congratulations, I may have to set this beauty off myself."

Minato was suddenly rarely grateful that he was on this mission alone. He had found himself in many situations were a partner would've been handy, but in a trap like this, the bigger the prey, the worse the situation. A perfect trap for reinforcement teams to fall into. And the more he lingered, the higher the chance that a team would appear and blow him up in pieces.

He had to get out of there quickly. But how?

The trap expert had, considering the marks on the ground, summoned the wires from underneath the ground with the seal on the tree. There could be more hiding underneath, so trying to get out below was out of the question. He had wires both in front of him, behind him and on both of his sides, so moving anywhere was impossible without setting off an explosion, so – above.

He looked up after making sure he had enough space to lean his head backwards. There were space, but not space enough for him to get through. But he had been right about the height.

He looked down again. He had brought two Hiraishin kunai, and carefully drew one of them. The trap expert began to laugh.

"Hah! If you try to cut the wires, you'll set off every single explosion tag. Not that it has been tested, though, maybe you want to try?"

Minato was quite sure he didn't want to try cutting the wires. He searched the space around him again, trying to find out how much he could move his right arm. If he stretched it out, it would hit at least four wires. But if he raised it and then stretched …

He carefully dropped the kunai and caught it with his left hand before he drew his second Hiraishin kunai from the same pocket. The trap expert now looked more suspiciously at him.

And then it probably hit him – his eyes widened.

"You're -"

But before he could tell Minato who he was, Minato himself had weakly thrown the first kunai in the air through a gap of wires and disappeared from his spot, lingered nine feet above the ground for only a moment as he threw the second kunai with a lot more effort – he caught the kunai fifty feet from where he had been falling, aimed and inserted some chakra in the kunai, and within two seconds, the kunai had pierced a tag.

It looked for a moment as though the whole world beneath him exploded. There was a blinding light, a loud roar of shattering earth and trees, and smoke and dust rose.

Minato fell back down to the earth, and activated some chakra to his feet to avoid breaking any bones as he landed in the middle of the smoke.

No, he had just landed in a huge advantage.

Crouching, he placed a thumb on the burnt, dry soil.

_Found you._


	6. Sake on the House

**6. Sake on the House**

The trap expert _could _have been smaller, in Minato's opinion.

After Minato had tracked down his chakra through the heavy smoke of powdered earth, throwing a Hiraishin kunai and slicing through his skin was easy enough. But lifting the body up was a different story. He had to turn him around to tie his hands in case he woke up again - he had only knocked him unconscious to save the information he held - and he doubted he wanted to fight hand-to-hand with a bunch of muscles like him. But he wanted to figure out the seal he had used, because he had recognized some of the markings.

It had given him a couple of ideas already.

With a lot of effort and some chakra to increase his strength (and to give the trap expert a couple of burn marks on his arm and leg) he managed to roll him over, and dug in his pocket for a small scroll. With it he summoned a rope, tied the trap expert's hands and legs, and picking up the scroll, he placed on the trap expert's left shoulder, ready to transport both of them back to the general's office, where he had placed a Hiraishin kunai a long time ago.

He paused. The dust had fallen to the ground, leaving the area around him exposed. He looked around him, remembering the tall trees that had surrounded the path he had ran on moments before, the thick forest he had made his way through all the way from the border post.

Those trees were nothing but a memory now.

_Sigh _… _I'm gonna be in trouble for this._

* * *

"Alright, Minato. Three things. One, you did well in bringing the trap expert back. I had never believed you'd defeat him that quickly, let alone bringing him back alive. Two, a few from the Intelligence Division is dropping by tomorrow, they may help you finding out a few of his secrets that you wish to gather information about. Three ..."

General Hiromu turned and gave Minato a tired look.

"Did you really have to blow up a square kilometer of forest?"

"Well," Minato began, scratching the back of his head. "I preferred to get it quickly over with, I think I'd have the disadvantage of strength if I had to fight him one-on-one ..."

"You are known for your quick analyzing skills and speed, and I'm impressed you made it out of the spider's web without a scratch, but was there really nothing else you could've done? The feudal lord ain't gonna be happy with me now."

"And I apologize for that," Minato said for the third time during the hour he had spent in general Hiromu's office.

Hiromu waved it off, and said: "Ah, what the hell. You survived, and I believe we'll both survive the feudal lord as well. Just not what I had planned for next week."

He sighed, clearly displeased with the lack of a square kilometer of trees, but let Minato off with nothing else said.

* * *

After the trap expert, Minato found it surprising how tough fighting some of his later opponents turned out to be. He had on the way back from a spying mission stumbled into two Ame shinobi who used fire; he had fought against a long-range shinobi who almost drowned him; he had fought quite unfairly one-on-four (though they turned out to be quite easy to fight, they were just too stubborn to be defeated) … It was therefore a relief when the war came to a slight break, and he could spend his time chasing off intruders and spies instead of sabotagers.

"Minato, you've got no choice, whatever you say. It's a big day."

Minato sighed and grimaced. He suddenly longed for week-long, demanding missions where it was battle of life and death.

Kousuke, however, didn't show much mercy either.

"I know everything went to hell last time we went out drinking, but that's the pity of being a lightweight," he said and smiled evilly. "It's your eighteenth birthday, it doesn't happen more than once, you know!"

"I'm aware of that," Minato said and picked up another kunai and started smudging away stains.

"You don't even have to drink that much this time."

With both hands occupied and unable to point a finger at him, Minato pointed the kunai instead – Kousuke backed off a few feet.

"The amount of alcohol was _your _fault -"

"- and Inoichi's -"

"- and no matter how much I trust you on everything else, I'll never trust you with a bottle of sake."

He resumed his work on the kunai (Kousuke didn't come any closer), but sighed.

"I really don't have any choice, do I?"

"Nope," Kousuke replied satisfied.

* * *

Inoichi and Kousuke had decided to take Minato, Shikaku, Chouza and Kiraku out of the border post and into the closest village, a small town with large rice fields, small tea corners and an impressively high number of brothels. They didn't enter one of those, to Minato's great relief; instead, they went to check out a sake bar next to a small, wrecked hotel. He had to admit, a sake bar seemed more tempting than a shady brothel.

It was nice to be away from the border post for a different reason than a mission for a change, and he felt the strange, yet familiar feeling of relaxing. He enjoyed taking a deep breath and thinking that there was no war, that he was simply traveling, discovering new places and new people …

All these thoughts were quickly washed away after the first bottle of sake.

"Kousuke, you _said _you'd go easy -"

"Aw, come on, mate, it's your birthday -"

"Tuck in, Minato, maybe you're not such a lightweight anymore."

Inoichi grinned sheepishly as Minato downed another glass of sake. Sake _on the house_, because Kousuke had taken the honor of announcing his big day for the bartenders.

"You guys are horrible," Minato said with a grin.

"'Must say, though, you're doin' a lot better than last time," Kiraku commented.

"Not my fault," Minato replied stubbornly and pointed at Kousuke. "_He -_"

"Hey!" Kousuke said, as though offended. "Don't pretend Inoichi didn't help, too!"

Inoichi gave Minato an innocent look.

"Okay, so he got me inside the bar," Minato said and poured sake into everyone's glasses. "But you're to blame for the alcohol."

And they downed another glass.


	7. Danzou

**7. Danzou**

Minato woke up the next morning with a horrible headache. Said headache made him in a horrible mood most of the day.

But at least he was now eighteen, unlike most of his old classmates, and he couldn't remember half of his first day of it.

The next few days passed on without much hassle, except from a few minor missions and several generals and jounin dropping by for mission reports, statuses and messages. It was when Minato was back from a scouting missions and reporting to general Himoru that a man he recognized entered the office tent.

"General Hiromu."

"Ah," the general replied. "Danzou."

It was clear in general Hiromu's voice that Danzou's visit was neither a surprise nor a pleasure. Danzou's eyes lingered on Minato for a moment, as though trying to see if he was hiding anything – Minato only glanced casually back – but he eventually turned back to the general.

"I came across information about a shinobi from Ame who's trying to enter our country," Danzou began. "He's after the feudal lord. He needs to be stopped."

"All right," general Hiromu said, and gestured for Minato to leave. Minato had only turned and walked a few paces before Danzou spoke again.

"Hold on, general. I think Minato-kun would suit well for this job."

Minato had barely had energy to spare for Danzou, as he had never spoken to him or had a very good impression of him. And never in his dreams had he expected Danzou to award him a special mission.

He turned, slightly confused.

"The man specializes in lightning jutsu, and you're a wielder of wind, am I not mistaken?" Danzou asked. Although he had for the first time addressed Minato, he didn't show any other facial expression than the lingering, see-through stare.

"That's right," Minato replied.

Danzou turned to general Hiromu for his opinion.

"Well, I don't have any other missions at the ready for him," general Hiromu said. "I guess I can put him on the task."

"Good," Danzou said, and for the first time smiled. It gave Minato the creeps.

He was briefed on the situation – where the man was to be found, the techniques he was using and such – and went off immediately. He wasn't tired from his previous mission at all, seeing as he hadn't spent any chakra, and the mission itself had lasted no more than two hours. The man wasn't that far from the border, he should be easy to come across …

And sure enough, after twenty minutes of running, he literally bumped into him. He threw himself backwards and almost had to lie down to avoid being beheaded by the sharp, thin line of lightning that shot out of the man's arm.

So he had at least found the right guy.

Fighting him was an easy task. He blasted every lightning attack away, making the man in the robe-like, blue uniform quickly realize that his attacks were no good. He glared at Minato for a moment, his mind running for something useful to attack his opponent with, while Minato made a stance and drew his two swords. He waited for the man to make a move rather than attacking first – and then, at the brief pause where the robe-man analyzed the situation, Minato saw it. There was something in his eyes, something he usually didn't see in the eyes of high-ranked shinobi who had the skill to do missions on their own, something he only saw a fracture of a second when the opponents he had slayed realized who he was … It was fear. But the opponent hadn't shown any sign of realization. He had attacked as soon as Minato had jumped in his way, as though he had been expecting an ambush right there and then … And it wasn't only nervousness, it was fear to the point of panick.

But why?

The man blasted forwards, screaming as though making himself angrier and braver, raising his fist in offense, and Minato, making up his mind quickly, withdrew his swords and did something his childhood best friend had both taught him and demonstrated on him: he gave him a powerful, bone-cracking hit by digging his fist in his face.

The robed man fell backwards and hit the ground with a thump, knocked out black and lying completely still. Lifting the man up (he was a lot lighter to carry than the trap expert, to Minato's relief), Minato placed him in sitting position by a tree, summoned a rope and tied him, so he wouldn't get any further – Minato sure as hell weren't going to bring him back to his Ame generals.

He straightened up and glanced at the robed man for a moment. The whole situation had just been weird. First, he had been sent out immediately to stop the man, as though he was a big threat to the Land of Fire. He had been informed that the man was after the feudal lord, but why was he doing so by himself? The feudal lord was isolated with an army of body guards, and no shinobi could get through them by themselves. Maybe he was going to meet someone on the way ... And then, when Minato had found him, it had been as though his arrival had been expected. Of course, every shinobi was to keep their guard up and look out for ambushes, especially when they were alone, Minato had plenty of experience with that … But he had never met an ambush without a bit of a startle first. This man, though, had attacked him as though he had seen Minato miles away, but how come he hadn't used that opportunity to attack Minato before they had bumped into each other? And why had he been so scared?

Minato turned and set off in an easy run to report to general Hiromu and Danzou. He needed to hear the general's opinion of this, and he had to tell them the man could be meeting someone else.

Something suddenly came to him. Why hadn't there been anyone else passing by? There was a village not too far from where they had fought, surely the path they were on should be busy with travelers?

Minato looked ahead of him. He had been running for a while now, he should be crossing the border anytime soon …

Though Minato ran for ten more minutes. He stopped.

He had never got lost before, not around the border; he had spent every day since he was thirteen around this area and knew almost every corner and path of it. He turned around, looking at the path he had been running on … and right ahead of him, the path split in two.

One thing was sure: he had never been on this path before. Which could only mean that he had been running the wrong way, and was too far inside the Rain country than he should be. And he _knew_ he had left the robed man and taken the right path back.

He checked every square meter of the area around him. There were trees, but nothing but birds and probably insects in them … the ground looked the same as before, with the hard soil … the sky didn't look any different either … and he looked at the clouds, and wondered if Shikaku would sit down and stare at the clouds if he was in the same situation …

He remembered something Shikaku had said a long time ago. _If you get lost, check everything around you. And I mean, everything._

If he really _did _mean everything, Minato should probably check himself as well.

The gray jacket was the same; hood was on, and the two blue stripes running down the arms were still there. The sweat pants were as black as before, and the bandages covering his legs as well … His completely closed shinobi sandals … and the mesh shirt … He had every weapon on him as well, although he hadn't brought many. Just the usual weapons he had carried with him for the past three years … He drew the left arm of his jacket back, and he felt as though his insides turned over.

The dark brown leather bracelet was still there. But it was like it had been five years ago; whole, and whirled three times around his wrist. The last time he had looked at it, it had been worn out and whirled twice …

He made a seal with the same hand.

"Kai."

The area around him changed. The path and the trees around him disappeared, leaving only the ones further away visible. He was standing in the midst of a meadow with knee-high grass. The bracelet also changed; it was now slightly uglier than before, but it was back to normal. And he noticed a strange chakra behind him.

"Tsk."

Minato turned at the sound, his hand gripping one of his swords.

"And here I thought I'd fooled you completely," said the strange person standing in the grass in front of him. "I see I failed at that bracelet of yours."

The person wasn't much older than Minato, and was surely quite shorter. He had light, short hair, arrogant-looking gray eyes, and wore a white jacket with a high collar over a mesh shirt. Around his neck was a thin golden necklace, so long that it fell over his chest, and with several similar, golden branches hanging down.

Minato frowned, trying to recall if he had ever seen such a man.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The man smiled. He had a contemptuous posture that Minato didn't like. "Surely, you should know? After all, you've been warned of my existence by your generals … But I know you better than you think."

Minato's hand didn't loosen the grip on the sword. "What do you mean?"

"Well, why do you think I failed on that bracelet of yours? You've been in Ame's bingo books for years, everyone's been dying to assassinate you." The young man laughed of his own ironic sentence. "I've been watching you. I saw you five years ago when you came to the border. Goodness, Hanzou was on the alert because of you … Said you would become a threat someday. So he put me on the case." The man smirked. "I watched you fighting that poor man Naoki earlier. I needed to get your outfit right so I could put you under my genjutsu. You see, you did turn the right way home … but I changed the path for you. All this time you think you've been running in a more or less straight line, but you didn't notice that you took a big u-turn, did you?"

The man sighed. "I had to get your outfit right to make such a big genjutsu, but alas, I failed … If else you would've been dead by now."

Minato could hardly see how that man, small as he looked, could kill him in one blow, especially if he was a genjutsu user. But if he had learned one thing from Jiraiya, it was not to underestimate his opponents.

And he had a slight idea of who it was. He had been, many years ago, warned by a man Jiraiya had been keeping an eye on, a man general Hiromu had told them would someday arrive …

"I see I have to do this the hard way," the man said lazily and formed his hands in seals. Before he could manage to finish his seals, though, Minato had thrown a hiraishin kunai towards his face, appeared before him and attempted to behead him with his sword – the man barely managed to duck, but put a distance between them quickly.

"So that's the Hiraishin technique," the man smirked as Minato turned, still crouching with a palm on the ground.

"And you're Toru the Genjutsu Master," Minato said.

"Very good."

The Genjutsu Master began on the seals again, and Minato repeated his move – he threw the kunai back at him, but Toru was prepared. He got away, and he was fast.

Minato moved to the kunai, landing on the ground, again with his palm on the cold earth between the green, tall grass.

He had tried to cast the smallest of genjutsu at him, and had come to the conclusion that casting genjutsu at him was impossible. He had learned about this before from Mikoto … What had she said?

_Sometimes, objects can be made to protect you from genjutsu. But those are hard to make, only very skilled shinobi can do it, not even our clan has managed to make one …_

Was it the necklace? It was glowing slightly, but the glow looked more red than gold …

He knew what he had to do. And it was going to be difficult.

* * *

**Did you recognize the necklace?**


	8. Sixteen Down, a Thousand to Go

**I've now rated this story to Fiction M, because in this chapter, stuff gets pretty violent.**

* * *

**8. Sixteen Down, a Thousand to Go**

He had to get that necklace – if he wore it, he would be protected against the genjutsu … and the Genjutsu Master would lose his biggest weapon.

The Genjutsu Master suddenly made a loud, piercing whistle. Minato knew what that meant – and sure enough, a moment later, fifteen Ame ninja, all wearing the same blue robes as the other man, Naoki, had.

So that had been his original plan: to lure him into the field, where fifteen of his loyal soldiers were waiting to assassinate him. Luckily for Minato, he had only gotten as far as to the field …

Minato changed his plan. He had one way to win this, and at all costs, he had to avoid looking at the Genjutsu Master, even if he had to fight blind-folded. He thrust his kunai towards them, scattering them around the field – apparently, they had already learned to avoid his Hiraishin kunai.

He transported himself to it, crouching. Palm on the ground.

Two of them charged at him, swords drawn. He drew one of his own to block their attacks, and they pushed him backwards as they fought. They were skilled swordsmen, using techniques Minato had never seen before – it was a close call several times, but they only got to give him small, barely bleeding cuts, and the pain was small enough to withstand. He ducked as one of them tried to slice his head off – he used that opportunity – palm on the ground.

He managed to cut both of his opponents, and they backed off, being replaced by two new. They had no swords, nor any other weapon ready – they charged at him, fists clenched, ready to strike at him with strength. Minato adjusted by withdrawing his swords, making a stance, reading their moves; one ran before the other, and the moment before they clashed he raised his fist to punch – Minato ducked, placed his hands on the cold earth and kicked his legs up, aiming for the man's face – his jaw made a nasty noise and he fell to the ground – Minato landed, and on his way up he hit the other under his chin, sending him several feet backwards –

More of them charged at him from different angles. With different styles of fighting, Minato was as surprised as the others as to how he managed to adjust to each of them. Swords, kunai, taijutsu – he was only lucky they were short-range fighters as himself – they moved around a large bit of the field, and at every opportunity Minato had, he crouched or ducked, and placed his palm on the ground.

It wasn't until the Genjutsu Master decided to join the fight that Minato had any serious problems. He couldn't look at him, otherwise he'd fall for whatever genjutsu he had in mind, and he would probably be dead before he could release himself from it. And he had to get close to him to be able to defeat him, but a genjutsu could be cast from a longer range … And the Genjutsu Master had learned to keep a distance to the Hiraishin kunai ... So Minato activated his chakra, shaped it – and moving three-hundred-and-sixty degrees at the spot, he blasted all sixteen of them away from him with a wind the strength of a hurricane.

With everyone lying down and stumbling to get up, Minato had the time he needed. He grabbed his forehead protector and pulled it over his eyes, seeing black. There was no longer time to adjust to styles. He had to do rely on his last four senses and do what he was best at.

His concentration was set on full as he drew both of his swords, feeling and hearing sixteen different chakras coming at him. He transported himself to one of them to get out of the circle they had made around him.

"How did he do that?" he heard one of them say. "He didn't even throw a kunai at her!"

Minato smirked, but stayed alert. He still needed a few more, his plan wasn't perfectly conducted yet … He took control of the fight, moving around to the places he still hadn't touched with his palm. It proved to be more difficult than last time, as his reaction was only a fraction slower without his sight, and that was enough to complicate his situation. But just a little more …

He activated his chakra. There was just enough, he could work it out fully now; but he needed more time …

With a hurricane stronger than the last one, he blasted the Ame shinobi further away from him.

He had to be quick.

He pulled up his forehead protector, withdrew a scroll from his weapon pouch tied around his leg, and cut his finger open. Without looking up he heard them coming back – three of them further ahead – and he made a seal on the scroll. A seal he had first seen while fighting the trap expert.

The seal was complicated, and it was big – the three in the lead was too close – he needed more blood – he had to do it now that the enemy was within range –

His seal was finished. He stepped back one step, placed his hand on the seal and activated the chakra, just as the tip of a sword was inches from his face.

One hundred and ten Hiraishin kunai shot in the air from the ground. At least three or four kunai stabbed each of his enemies in their legs, arms, chests – one shot an inch from Minato's face, and he didn't even flinch, he just grabbed it, and with his eyes blinded by his forehead protector once more, he thrust it at one to slice, and so he did with twenty of the other kunai that never hit them.

Finally, landing on the ground beside a young woman, he sensed where the Genjutsu Master was lying. He walked over and crouched beside him. The young, small man was unable to move. A kunai had hit him in the spine, paralyzing most of his body. Minato took off the red-glowing necklace, placed it around his neck and lifted up his forehead protector.

The Genjutsu Master was breathing heavily with a rasping noise, looking at him with fright.

"Th-that was … the trap expert's … Fukuda's ..." he stammered. "How ..."

"Every time I placed my hand on the ground, I summoned a kunai," Minato replied. "Before I connected them to Fukuda's original seal. Space-time jutsu isn't the only weapon I have."

He grabbed his sword and drew it.

"You shouldn't send a seal user in another seal user's territory."

And with a quick slash and a stream of blood, the young Genjutsu Master was dead.

Minato straightened up and sighed. He had spent a lot of his chakra on hiding the kunai underground, and he felt stiff and tired. With a single hand seal the kunai disappeared, leaving only one between the grass. He went to pick it up.

A cut on his cheek was bleeding. He wiped the blood off.

There could be more of them around him … But looking around him, there were none he could see. He crouched and placed a thumb on the ground, activating just a bit of chakra in it.

He froze.

None of them were particularly close. But they were too many to count.

Between him and home was around a thousand Ame shinobi, coming his way.

* * *

_Earlier ..._

"What's wrong, Hizashi-san?" Shikaku asked as he saw Hizashi activate his Byakugan and frown.

"There's a disturbance in the air ..." Hizashi answered his Jounin companion. They were sitting at the border post near the border between Ame and Konoha, taking a break from work and watching Minato's short and undramatic fight against the lightning wielder. "Someone's casting a genjutsu at a wide range -" he shifted his eyes around, "- and I don't see Minato anywhere."

Shikaku looked out on the various paths ahead of them. "But you said you saw him defeat that lightning wielder moments ago, shouldn't he be back by now?"

"Yes, he should … But he's nowhere to be seen, and there's a chakra covering the air. It looks like genjutsu."

Shikaku frowned. "I'll talk to the general. We should check what's going on."

* * *

It was worse than Minato had imagined.

There was no way around the army of a thousand enemies, and he had already spent a lot of chakra and energy on only sixteen – they suddenly seemed kind compared to what he standing against now.

His only chance was in getting through them, and to get close enough to the border to transport himself back; the Genjutsu Master had made him move so far away from the border that using the Hiraishin kunai by his bed at the border post was impossible.

He grabbed the Hiraishin kunai he had brought with him and used a cloning technique to charge at several of the first hundred at the same time. He was their only target, and they were quickly surrounding him. But he was already low on chakra, this was never going to go well …

Fifty down. He had to work hard to focus. Sixty down.

A kunai hit him hard in the shoulder. The pain was amplified by his already stiff body, and he found it hard to move – he grabbed the kunai, pulled it out and cut a woman across her face before running forward.

The crowd tightened. He couldn't use his hurricane technique, he had to save his chakra and rely on weapons and strength alone.

Eighty down.

_Come on … _he thought angrily as he had to move backwards while fighting a large, heavy man. Why had Danzou sent him alone? How had he found a single, robed lightning wielder and missed noticing an army of a thousand Ame ninja?

He stabbed two at once. One hundred down. Nine hundred to go.

He had gotten used to the tiredness and pain. If he kept working in this pace, it could work … Ten more down.

A tight group of fifty ninja charged at him. He saw no choice but to use the kunai cloning technique again. One hundred and twenty two down.

He had to use it two more times. His chakra levels were desperately low, but he tried to not let it get to him. He could worry about that when he absolutely had to.

Fifteen minutes went. He was now back on the path between the trees. Two hundred down.

He was exhausted. His vision blurred, and even though he still managed to hit the enemy with sword, kunai or hand, it was poorly coordinated. Someone shouted out that he had become tired. It didn't give him a boost of confidence.

Two hundred and fifteen down.

He had to keep running. He stumbled, but managed to keep his feet on the ground and kept on running. He ducked, blocked, charged – he was kicked hard, fell and got up again, blood-stained, filthy and kunai clenched in his hand, necklace swaying, looking unharmed -

_The bracelet_, he thought, searched for it with his other hand, and it was still there. He found new hope. He killed another thirty shinobi.

He began to see black dots before him. His legs threatened to collapse. One moment he was completely lost – he saw nothing, his body didn't respond, and he felt a sword piercing his already harmed shoulder. His vision came back and he grabbed it, pulled it out and used it, ran, trying not to care about the immense pain that spread from his shoulder to his head, neck and arm, trying to deny that the blood running down his mesh shirt was his own -

He felt someone rip the sword out of his hand, and a white-hot pain he felt impossible to ignore filled him as the sharp blade stabbed him in his stomach, and he was pushed and fell against a tree – he could see a woman with a covered face pull the sword out and get ready to defeat him once and for all -

Something heavy hit her out of the way, and Minato tried to sit up. But he couldn't keep his eyes open, the pain was too intense, and as his hand moved to the wound on his stomach he felt it being drenched in hot liquid, his own blood. Someone called at him, but he couldn't open his mouth to reply.

He saw a black, silent wall, and knew nothing more.


	9. Meanwhile

**Hey guys. Would first like to say thank you for your positive comments, either as a review or a PM! They keep me going :)**

**This chapter's a lot shorter than the others, but it does hint to something that's going to happen veery soon ...**

* * *

**9. Meanwhile**

_«Stay together, guys. Search everyone, we might find something useful.»_

_The spiky-haired girl with the dog walked over to a bloody shinobi enemy, who had fallen at the hands of her Gatsuga technique. The others crouched next to the other dead shinobi, searching their pockets and jackets for weapons, scrolls or anything informative._

_The last girl to enter the room turned over a tall, thin, dark-haired man who's eyes were barely open. She found a few shuriken and a kunai in a pocket attached to his leg, and opened his jacket. Out fell a small book._

_A bingo book. Out of curiosity, she opened it and saw the faces of potentially lethal enemies of the Rock ninja. She found Morino Ibiki; his page had been scribbled on, saying he was currently disabled. Which was true: he had been tortured horribly, but his comrades had rescued him and brought him back to Konoha for treatment._

_She found a few Ame shinobi she didn't recognize, a couple of Konoha ANBU they apparently still hadn't figured out who was … some higher-ups from Suna …_

"_What's that you've got there?" the spiky-haired girl asked her._

_She didn't reply. She had stopped at one page, and her insides turned._

_This page was also scribbled on, as the Rock ninja had found more information about the man on the page. A picture had been clipped on, and looked as though it had been cut out of its original photo. She recognized Shikaku, being half cut out of the photo. The other face, which was whole, was a face she had never seen before._

_But she recognized it. The blue eyes were the same, and the hair was as messy and sunny as it always had been. But the face … it was a man's face, not a child's._

_She looked at the comments the Rock ninja had scribbled down. 'Don't let the looks fool you'._

_He didn't exactly look very threatening. His expression was warm in the presence of his friend, and she remembered his friendly posture, and how small he had been … He had barely been taller than her, and she hadn't grown since ... And she wondered if he still remembered her ...  
_

_Her eyes moved to his personalia. 'Rank: Jounin. Age: ca. 18/19. Gender: male. Height: ca. 1.80'._

_Her jaw fell at the last piece of information.  
_

_And since when was he 1.80?_

* * *

**Oh, and by the way ... I've had questions about that necklace Minato stole during the last chapter. If you've seen a few of the oldest pictures of Minato by Kishimoto, you see he's got some sort of necklace, but nothing he wears regularly. I just thought it was a shame we never knew what it was and that it's never been mentioned in any fanfictions (at least of what I've read) so far, so I thought I'd put it in!**


	10. Jiraiya

**Ame = Rain Village (the country's name is unknown)**

**Iwa = Rock Village (hidden in the land of Earth, Tsuchi)**

* * *

**10. Jiraiya**

Blurred light.

Nothing.

Voices.

Nothing.

Minato couldn't remember the countless times he woke up, either it was during the way back and he was disturbed by the stress caused by the people who carried him, or lying in a bed with people hovering over him, covering him in bandages and placing their chakra palms on his torso.

All he could see, and all he could hear, was blurred.

* * *

It took a long time for him to finally wake up and understand what was going on. He was woken up abruptly as though he had only taken a mid-day nap, and could hear voices nearby. At the beginning the voices were blurred, as though he was underwater, and he couldn't make sense of where he was or what was going on. Then things started to clear up, and he remembered. All the shinobi he had had to fight, and he had been stabbed … Was he in the hands of the enemy now? But he could distantly remember, as though it had only been a thought, that someone had called his name …

The voices became clearer.

"... we did everything we could to save him."

"But what the hell happened?"

He recognized that last voice. The image of a tall, white-haired man crouching by a fence surrounding an onsen popped into his head.

"He was just brought here last week, I don't have any information about what happened," the first voice was saying. "We're not sure if he remembers anything himself, he was out for a pretty rough time -"

"Where is he?"

Minato sat up and flinched at the pain in his shoulder, which he recalled had been stabbed twice. He pulled the blanket off; he saw he had been undressed except for his underwear, and the black bandages on his legs were replaced by white, medical ones. Both his jacket and mesh shirt had disappeared somewhere. The necklace was nowhere to be seen either. His torso was also covered in bandages at different places; the one at his shoulder looked as though it had been bleeding recently. He felt incredibly stiff as he placed his feet on the ground and braced himself for standing up and probably get dizzy.

"He's inside the tent, but you can't -"

He heard footsteps.

"I'm sorry, but you can't go in there -"

"What, why?"

Minato stood up.

"He needs to rest -"

He did get dizzy.

"So his own sensei can't even check on him?"

He supported himself to a chair for a moment, before he stretched and heard knuckles in various places crack. Feeling refreshened, he started on the way to the shelf with bottles of water placed in a corner.

"He still hasn't woken up, it's not good for him -"

Minato emptied a whole bottle, and was starting to feel slightly sick.

"I think I'll be the one to decide that."

The sheets at the tent's entrance were pushed away just as Minato had emptied another bottle, and in came a familiar face.

"Hey, sensei," Minato smiled, and was surprised at how hoarse his voice was.

Jiraiya's face lit up, and he grinned triumphantly. "I _knew _you'd come around!" he said loudly, and the nurse, who had just entered the tent after him, was blinking in confusion.

"How's my favorite student doing?" Jiraiya asked as he walked over to Minato, and, to Minato's relief, deciding not to pat him on the head or anything similar.

"I'm your only student, sensei," Minato sighed and hit Jiraiya lightly in the head with the empty bottle in his hand. He flinched at the move and his hand went automatically to his shoulder – it had started to bleed again.

"Hey, hey, slow down, kid," Jiraiya said and placed Minato back on the bed as black dots were starting to appear before his eyes. The nurse came immediately to stop the bleeding.

"How much do you remember?" she asked.

"Pretty much everything," Minato replied and thought about everything that had happened during the battle. It was difficult as he was trying not to faint.

"General Hiromu will want to see you," the nurse said. Minato nodded.

"So what happened, kid?" Jiraiya said with an anxious look on his face.

"I can't sort anything out," Minato said and shook his head. "One moment I was on a mission to fight one single guy, and then I'm trapped by that Genjutsu Master and his back-up, and suddenly this army shows up and charges at me."

"Why?" Jiraiya asked.

"I dunno what the deal was with the army, but … the Genjutsu Master had been sent out to assassinate me."

Jiraiya looked highly troubled by this.

"How long have I been out?" Minato asked the nurse, as though the matter of him being attempted assassinated was not an interesting subject to discuss. He was already used to have a bounty on his head.

"Eight days," she said. Minato blinked in surprise. "Your chakra was completely exhausted, and you didn't have any energy left. Any more and you would've died."

"Wait," he suddenly said. "Who came and rescued me?"

"Shikaku, Kiraku, Hizashi, the general himself and me," Jiraiya answered. "Hizashi had been following you from the post with his Byakugan, and he had noticed you disappearing from his view and saw the genjutsu cast at you. He went to alert the general immediately."

"The wound should be fine now," the nurse said, done healing him with pulsating chakra. "But don't move it, or you'll open it again. Now get dressed, I'll tell the general you're on your way."

The nurse left. Minato looked for his clothes.

"Get dressed with what?" he said, but Jiraiya went to a closet and took out fresh clothes that someone had taken from his bedside in the dormitory tent. Minato got up once again to get changed, but had to support himself to the chair and collect himself again because of the dizziness that hit him.

Getting dressed had been a challenge, but they were in the end walking across the border camp towards general Hiromu's office tent, Jiraiya staying close to Minato in case of emergency dizziness. Many people greeted Minato as they passed by, and several of them seemed genuinely worried about how he was doing. As they arrived at the office tent they entered, and general Hiromu stood up as soon as he saw them.

"Good to see you alive, Minato," he said with a relieved, yet serious face.

"Thank you," Minato replied.

"I know you may be tired but we need to get things sorted out at once," general Hiromu said. "I want you to tell us everything that happened on your mission. Hizashi-san has already covered the part with that man Naoki, but unfortunately we don't know much else."

Minato nodded, sighed and sat down at a chair in front of the general's desk. Jiraiya sat down next to him, and he and the general fell silent as Minato began to talk. He told them how he had started on his way back, but Toru, the Genjutsu Master, had sent him in the wrong direction … How he had planned on sending him straight to a group of fifteen shinobi, ready to assassinate him, and how he had managed to defeat them and take Toru's necklace … How an army of too-many-to-count shinobi was charging right at him, and how he had been low on chakra and tried to get through so he could escape … He told them everything til the part where he had blacked out.

"Where is the necklace, anyway?" he asked when he was done with the story.

"It's here in my office," the general replied. "But you can have it back. Hizashi-san has taken a look at it, you should go see him so he can tell you what it's all about."

Minato nodded, thinking that as soon as he was done in the general's office, he would go find Hizashi.

The general sighed. "Why an army of a thousand Ame shinobi was sent in your direction, I have no idea …"

"But seriously, kid," Jiraiya said and looked at Minato. "You beat nearly one hundred and fifty of them by yourself, and that was after spending half your chakra on another battle. If they had so many back-ups just to get you killed, they must be quite scared of you."

Minato snorted, but the idea of a whole country being afraid of him – or at least threatened by his existence – was slightly amusing.

* * *

As soon as Minato had gone out of the tent, he went against his body's desire to go back to bed and sought out Hizashi, necklace in his hands. He found him at one of the watch posts, conveniently covering his own watch.

Hizashi was glad to see Minato up and going again, and told him everything he had found out about the necklace.

"It was Toru himself who made the necklace," he said. "But the thing is, the necklace responds on the chakra coming from the maker. As soon as the necklace is removed from the maker or, as in this case, the maker dies, the effect starts to wear off."

"So it's worthless to use now?" Minato asked.

"It takes a while for the effect to wear off, at least with this necklace, because the longer the maker wears it, the longer it works. And Toru had been wearing it for quite a few years, so I believe you can still use it for a few months. Just be aware that eventually it'll wear off, but you'll notice on the red chakra surrounding it. I think it'll get colder, too."

Minato nodded, looking down at the golden, red-glowing necklace. He then noticed that something was missing from his wrist – and the blood disappeared from his face.

"The bracelet," he said. "Where -"

"Relax," Hizashi smiled, noticing the stressful posture Minato had possessed. "I put it in your bag. Though it's in a horrible condition ..."

Minato breathed out, relieved.

"Is it important to you?" Hizashi asked. "The bracelet?"

"A bit," Minato replied. That was an understatement; the bracelet meant a huge deal to him.

Hizashi smiled. Sometimes, it was difficult to see how Minato was known as a dangerous, cold-hearted assassin.

Minato went back to his bed in the dormitory to put the bracelet back on his wrist. He was now almost positive that it acted as a lucky charm, even though it was badly damaged. He would also love to lay down at his own, warm bed, but he had promised to stay the night at the emergency tent, so he obediently walked back and found Jiraiya on the way. He was busy packing his bag, and had changed into the standard Konoha shinobi uniform.

"Where're you going?" Minato asked, disappointed to see that Jiraiya wouldn't be staying any longer. He hadn't seen him for more than two years, and he missed spending countless hours of either training, messing around or doing nothing at all with him.

"Emergency call," Jiraiya said with a serious note in his eyes. "Ame has regained some strength, and Hanzou's pissed off. We're sending people straight to the front lines."

Minato frowned. "He's pissed off? Why?"

"Why d'you think, kid?" Jiraiya said, but a hint of pride flashed across his face. "He failed on killing you, and he lost a large army in the attempt."

"And now you're meeting him directly?" Minato asked. He couldn't hide the fact that this troubled him.

"We have to," Jiraiya replied. "Don't worry kid, we may have smaller numbers against them, but we have many skilled shinobi. And no -" he interrupted sternly as Minato opened his mouth, "- you're not going to the front lines, not in your condition. Go back in there and you'll die for sure."

Minato sighed of frustration. The last thing he wanted to do when most of his comrades were sent to fight was to stay back and do nothing to help.

"I know you get angry of this," Jiraiya said. "But the general has some sort of plan for you. You just have to recover first, so don't do anything rash."

Like he was one to talk, he was the one charging straight at Ame's front line ...

"Shikaku and Kousuke are staying too," Jiraiya continued when Minato said nothing. "I think you'll have some sort of mission with the two of them."

Minato nodded; at least he wasn't alone on the camp.

"Well, I gotta hurry," Jiraiya said and picked up his bag. "I'm meeting Tsunade and Orochimaru on the way. Take care, kid."

He ruffled Minato quickly in the hair, and Minato stood behind and saw his sensei disappear between the trees.

He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

**Can't believe I manage to write as much as I do. I have this big assignment this week, and writing has been a real hassle ... But now I'm so full of inspiration that as soon as I'm done for the day I have to write on the story. My neck's hella stiff right now.**

**But this will probably be the last chapter before Easter - I'll probably get to write the next chapter during next week, and I'm looking _so_ much forward to writing it - so happy Easter everyone!  
**


	11. Defeat

**Heh, you guys have been impatient about Minato and Kushina reuniting again.**

**Guess I've postponed it long enough, haven't I?**

* * *

**11. Defeat**

It was the worst week in Minato's life.

He, along with Shikaku, Kousuke and the general, were about the only ones left at the border camp. The others had been sent to the front lines to fight, knowing very well that their numbers were smaller than Ame's. Minato had stayed behind to heal, Shikaku and Kosuke were waiting for him to heal and the few others left – among those Inoichi, Chouza and Hizashi - were keeping watch over the camp under the command of the general, who, despite the little activity on the camp, had his full hands with reports, planning reinforcements and preparing to take in the wounded.

He had so little time for anything else that Minato was surprised when he was called to see the general along with Shikaku and Kousuke.

He had, fourteen days after the attempted assassination of himself, almost healed and was on the edge of loosing his mind.

"Well, if that's so," general Hiromu said seriously when Minato had stated his frustration at his arrival in the office tent. "I've got a mission for you three. Thanks to the amount of shinobi at Ame's hand, they've sent out ambushes to stop our reinforcements. I need you to wipe them out as quickly as possible. No hesitation; kill them immediately. We have no time to spare."

And on that note, the three of them turned and left to prepare their mission at once. Kousuke's dog trotted alongside them as they hurried back to their dorm tent, got changed and gathered their weapons.

They ran out to the paths Konoha reinforcements usually chose to get their way to Ame, and Kousuke and his dog soon managed to smell out the first groups of ambushes. They got in behind the ambush, which consisted of only three shinobi, slayed one each and continued on to the next, which was as small as the previous one.

In the end, Kousuke smelled out about four more ambushes, one a little further away from the border than the others – and he could smell a Konoha team about to crash into them.

Minato quickly placed a thumb on the ground to check numbers against numbers. Putting aside the three other ambushes waiting a little more east to their position, there were about fourty in the last ambush ... and the Konoha team consisted of – he counted them – three, five, seven -

Minato made a sudden movement, as though shaking off a fly. He knew some those chakras; they came to him like he had forgotten them, and just suddenly remembered how they were ... and a laugh, a laugh he hadn't heard for so long that it had faded, sounded somewhere in the back of his head -

"Minato?" Shikaku said, looking down at where he was crouching.

"You two go ahead and help the reinforcement team," Minato said, and took out a sheet of paper and a Hiraishin kunai. He quickly began to scribble a short message on it. "I'll take care of the other ambushes, their numbers are few. I'll send this -" he held up the kunai which he was at the moment sealing the message to – "ahead of you. Once you're there, make sure they set off to the border."

With a last check to figure out their exact positions – the team and the ambush group had now clashed - he got up, activated some chakra in his palm and threw the kunai over the tree tops, seeing it disappear fast.

"Go!" he said, and turned to deal with the other ambushes. Shikaku and Kousuke set off without quiestioning him; their mission was, after all, to be done as quickly as possible.

As he reached the first number of ambush, he could feel the kunai soaring through the air. At the defeat of the ambush group, the notice disappeared, and he knew the kunai must've landed.

Some time went without any signs. He found the second ambush group and defeated them too. As he was dealing with the third team, he felt a weird sign, like something warm brushing against his palms – it was chakra, different to his own, being inserted into the handle of the kunai, where his seal was placed.

He smiled, and placed his thumb on the ground. He concentrated, found out the distance between the reinforcement team and the ambush group ... Shikaku and Kouske had taken a detour around the ambush and was standing with the reinforcement team ... He waited, only a few seconds passed -

He felt a new alert, a lot stronger this time. Fourty kunai had been thrown in the air. Making a hand seal, Minato counted the seconds it would take for the kunai to reach the enemy.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

He disappeared, and found himself a few feet above the ground, grasping a kunai and about to clash with a sour-looking, bearded man. Before the man could even make an expression of surprise at the sight of him he lay on the ground, bleeding – only a few of them could blink before all fourty had been cut in the neck and fallen to the ground.

He straightened up and looked behind him. Shikaku and Kousuke came running towards him.

"They left only moments ago," Shikaku said. "Now hurry, we have to get back to the camp for the general's orders."

They left, Minato both frustrated and disappointed; he knew he could manage to fight, his wounds had almost healed and his strength was regained – and there was this one thing he found difficult to put into words ... It was some sort of longing; he wanted to see the owner of one of those chakras for himself, not only feeling her presence somewhere nearby and know that he had been so close to seeing her for the first time in years.

Fifteen minutes later, they had returned to the camp. To hear shocking news.

"Konoha was defeated," the general said, looking tired as they walked over to the hospital tent. "No survivors. Only -" he entered one of the wards, where two persons were sitting.

It was Tsunade and Orochimaru. Apart from being slightly worn out, they looked fine. Though Minato, who had put two and two together, was starting to feel terror rising in his stomach. No survivors, except the two of them ... but that would mean -

"Ame had them dragged too far into the country for any reinforcements to make it on time," the general said. "I've sent message birds to the reinforcement teams to let them know what happened."

"Don't worry, kid," Tsunade suddenly said, having noticed the expression on Minato's face. She turned on her seat, much to the healers annoyance; she was trying to mend a cut on her face. "Jiraiya's fine. He fell behind to take care of a couple of kids."

Minato frowned. "What?"

"That's what I said," Orochimaru said, shaking his head. "He just felt sorry for them. Said he was going to teach them a few tricks so they could look after themselves."

Well, that was certainly a better explanation to why Jiraiya wasn't among the survivors at the camp ...

"But ... _No _survivors?" Shikaku said, and Minato felt the terror in his stomach come back.

Kiraku ... Kiraku had been sent out there. And there were no survivors.

"No survivors," general Hiromu said, looking at Shikaku regretfully. "I'm sorry."

It was only fitting that drops of rain were starting to fall from the sky.

* * *

Minato had had lots of time to think about everything that had happened since he came back to the camp. He had been sitting watch at the usual post, all alone, watching as no one crossed the border. His head was full of whizzling thoughts, yet at the same time, it felt somewhat empty. Kiraku was dead, and he was certain that other people he knew had suffered the same fate; he was just waiting to hear about it ... and his sensei was still there, trying to protect and train the enemy's kids ... probably bad conscience ...

And then, Hanzou, who had recently tried to erase Minato from the map, had let Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru survive, on the condition that they started using a new title ... The Legendary Sannin, he had called them.

A figure came walking towards him through the damp mist, rain drops dripping from his long hair.

"I'm here to relieve you," Hizashi said as he had sat down next to Minato. "General Hiromu's speaking to the other generals at the moment, he said they'll have new orders for us tomorrow. Most likely we're heading back to Konoha."

Minato snapped his head up and looked at him.

"We're going home?" he asked, barely able to believe what he was hearing.

"Yeah," Hizashi smiled. He had been in Konoha until recently, but Minato, who had been stuck at the border with a permanent job as the general's assassin, hadn't been home for five years ...

"Now go get some rest," Hizashi said. "No need for you to stay here."

"All right, see you later," Minato said and got up. He had to clean his weapons again – he hadn't even cleaned the ones he had used before he was knocked out for a week – but the rain was falling harder, he couldn't clean them outside like he usually did.

Back at the dorm tent, he got changed into a more comfortable outfit; a pair of black sweat pants, a white singlet and his gray jacket with the stripes down the sleeves. Putting the kunais in a bag, he left the dorm tent, hood over his head, bag over one shoulder and swords in his hand, and crossed the damp ground of the camp. He entered a warm tent, where people were sitting on couches and chairs around tables or waiting for the chef to pour hot soup in bowls in the corner. They were all talking, but the atmosphere was still rather heavy. Kousuke was sitting with his dog nearby, and Minato started to walk towards him.

He then halted suddenly.

By the counter where the chef was handing out soup, next to one of her teammates, he saw red hair.

He stood there for seconds, staring at the person in the far end of the tent, his heart beating at the thought of her turning around and notice him. What was he supposed to say to her?

Though she was apparently focused on a small food chart in front of her. Minato grinned, and decided to sit down next to Kousuke as originally planned.

"Hey, man," Kousuke said without looking up from the book he was reading.

"Hey," Minato replied, emptied the bag of kunai on the table and took the hood off his head. "How's it going?"

"All right," Kousuke said, turning a page. "Shikaku just met his father, I think they're still talking."

"I see," Minato said, though there weren't much to understand. He glanced at the red-haired girl standing only ten feet away from him, wondering when she was going to make up her mind, get her food and turn around. She was chatting with her teammate – Rabi, to be exact – about the food on the menu. Minato waited a bit longer, pulled up his sleeves and began to wipe the stains off one of his swords.

"The food's not bad, though," Rabi said, recieving a bowl of chicken soup with rice.

"I know, I know," Kushina said impatiently. "But this is all we get to eat, seriously. I could kill for some salt ramen."

Minato couldn't resist.

"Still favouring the salt ramen?" he said loudly; Kousuke looked up; Kushina reacted slowly, having not expected someone else than Rabi to reply, but lifted her face from the menu and turned around. "I guess some things never change."

Kushina could for a moment do nothing but stare at him and blink of surprise. Minato chuckled warmly.

"It's been a while, Kushina."

And for the first time, by taking in her whole appearance, he could fully appreciate why Inoichi had chased after her.


	12. Disbelief

**12. Disbelief**

Besides the fact that Kushina hadn't grown an inch the last five years, she had changed in many ways. The pink, round cheeks she used to have had evened out, her hair had grown even longer and – Minato tried not to think too much about it – she wasn't flat-chested or curveless any more.

Though her eyes definitely had the same fiery, unpredictable hint to them. And they widened as she realized who it was she was looking at.

"Holy -" she said, surprise clear in her voice, but a smile appeared on her face. "Minato!"

Minato grinned back. It appeared that Kushina hadn't lost her way with words either.

"Oh, what the hell," Kushina said and turned to the chef. "I'll have the chicken soup too, then."

"And you, Minato-kun?" the chef said, lifting his head above the red-haired girl.

"The same, thanks," Minato replied, got up and walked to the counter to receive his bowl of soup.

"Oh, damn," Kushina said, looking up at him. "So that bingo book _was _telling the truth, you really are one eighty tall."

"Barely," Minato said, looking down at her. "Guess if I'd still been one sixty I'd be ashamed of myself."

He dodged a fist aiming at his face, grabbed his freshly cooked bowl of soup and gave Kushina a grin resembling a child who'd just won the lottery; though it wasn't a taunting face, it was warm and happy, and as he turned to escape back to the couch, Kushina was glad he couldn't see that she was blushing strongly.

She joined shortly after, blush gone, and broke her chop sticks apart. Minato couldn't be more pleased with the situation; when they started talking, it couldn't have been in a more natural, comfortable way.

Rabi had sat down next to Kousuke's dog and shook Minato's hand for greetings – he felt a bit more uncomfortable, seeing as he had once been one of the class's worst bullies – but Minato greeted him without any trace of grudges.

"So how you been?" Kushina asked as she picked up a cooked piece of bamboo from her soup. "You haven't been home once since you left."

Minato shook his head. "No, got too occupied here," he replied. "I have a permanent job here, made it impossible for me to get back now and then."

"But what now?" Kousuke asked, looking up from his book again. "Have you heard from the general?"

"I heard from Hizashi that we're getting new orders tomorrow," he said. "But the general said we're most likely going back to Konoha."

"So the war's over?" Kousuke said.

"Think so," Minato said, a hopeful smile appearing on his face. He glanced at Kushina, but found it impossible to look at her without having to grin as though he had just received a second round of birthday presents, so he turned back to his food.

"What about you?" he asked Kushina. "How's life treated you?"

"All right, I guess," Kushina replied, though a frustrated tone slipped out of her. She didn't say anything else on the matter, though, and Minato decided to leave it. "I'll be happy when the war's officially over, Konoha's way too depressing without half the villagers being there."

"Really?" Minato said. When he had thought about Konoha, he had thought about sunny weather, carefree, smiling people and the gate he had walked out of, leaving a blushing, speechless red-head behind.

"It's not as crowded as it used to be," Kushina said, examining a common rice on her chop stick with little interest. "It's not the same any more."

"It'll get better," Rabi said, getting up. "If you guys are coming back, I guess things will turn back to normal soon enough."

Kushina nodded in agreement, casting a happy glance at Minato. Rabi left to take a shower, and Kousuke turned to Kushina.

"How's my sister?" he asked.

"She's fine," Kushina said, and looked at his furry dog. "Has Kemaru always been that big?"

Kousuke glanced at the dog, who was waving his tail contently.

"Huh," Kousuke said, examining him. "I forgot, he used to sit on top of my head ..."

Kemaru barked, and Kousuke turned towards the tent's entrance.

"Tsume's outside," he said and got up. "I'll go say hi."

And he, too, left.

"How's teaming up with Rabi these days?" Minato said, remembering how the two of them had never gotten along well.

"It's fine, actually," Kushina said. "He's improved a whole lot, you know, on a _social _basis ..." She shook her head a bit statedly. "But he's still a brainless git, no use denying that."

Minato chuckled.

"Heard a lot about you over the years," Kushina said, looking at him curiously. He looked back. "A 'dangerous, cold-blooded killer', huh?"

"Not convinced?" Minato asked with a sort of crossed smile.

"Not really," Kushina grinned. She picked up a bingo book from her pocket and tossed it to him. "Found you in this while I was on a mission in Iwa. Look at the comments they've written about you."

Minato quickly found the page describing him, and his first reaction was the photograph.

"So that's where it ended up," he said, releasing the photo from the clipper. "Shikaku said he'd lost it."

He turned to the comments.

"'Don't let the looks fool you', are you kidding me?" he said in mock hurt. "They make me look like some of the things you used to call me."

Kushina snorted in her soup. She had once used to call him things like weak, flake, girly-boy, baby and softie.

"Admit it," Kushina said mischievously. "You don't look like much of an assassin."

"You're taking big risks here, mocking me like that," Minato said. "If you don't start taking me seriously I could kill you in an instant -"

He dodged a chopstick coming his way and laughed.

"I'll never take you seriously," Kushina said and grabbed one of his chopsticks to finish her meal. "Didn't I tell you that before?"

"You liked to remind me now and then, yeah," Minato smiled and winked.

It was starting to get late, and people were leaving the tent to get a good night's sleep. The rain had stopped, but the air was still damp and misty, and the lights in the tent had been dimmed down. In the end, the tent was empty, except from Minato and Kushina, who were thrown out on one couch each; Minato's weapons sharp and shining; their soup bowls having retreated to the kitchen; and they talked for hours.

"This is just like the old days," Kushina said as she stared at the roof of the tent. "Except we used to look at the stars, not some sort of … white-ish sheets."

Minato chuckled. "Not that much of a difference," he said sarcastically, thinking about the wonderful night sky hanging above Konoha every night.

They fell silent for a moment, until Minato turned to look at Kushina across the small table between them.

"How's the war been for you?" he asked.

Kushina sighed. "It's been frustrating. I couldn't leave Konoha once in the beginning, you know, because of ..."

Minato nodded.

"When I was allowed out on missions again we were never directly involved with the war, so I couldn't do anything to help. Today was the first chance we had to do something useful, but … we were too late."

She turned to Minato.

"Why weren't you sent to the front lines, by the way?" she asked. "Of all people ..."

"I was healing," Minato replied.

"Healing?"

"Yup. Ame tried to get rid of me two weeks ago, and they almost succeeded too ..."

"Wait, wait, wait," Kushina said, sitting up. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? _You _almost got defeated?"

Minato looked at her and nodded.

"And you were disabled for two weeks?"

He nodded again.

Kushina blinked. "I don't believe it."

"Hey, I'm not immortal," Minato said with a sort of regretful smile.

"No, but … Not even I ever managed to do anything but scraping you up a bit."

Minato laughed. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

"Hey, no lies here," Kushina said, hands up as though defending herself. "I've never been worried you'd get yourself killed, I thought it was impossible to even knock you out."

"You've knocked me out before."

"Yes, well, that wasn't during fights or anything."

"You're right, the first time was because I was unaware that mocking you could be deadly if I didn't keep my guard up."

Kushina gave him a sort of sour look, and he grinned.

"You look all right, though, it's hard to see that you've been disabled for two weeks," Kushina said, still not believing that Minato had actually been knocked out by the enemy.

"Well, first of all I spent all the energy and chakra I had," Minato said and sat up too. "I was hit a few times, and then I was stabbed here -" he shifted the shoulder of his singlet away to reveal the still red-glowing, painful wound - "and then here -" he lifted up his singlet to show her the wound on his stomach, which had luckily been much smaller and much less fatal.

Kushina looked at the wounds as though every single of them were a miracle. "And how many people did it take to get you into that state?"

"Uh, about a thousand," Minato said.

"Really?" Kushina said, now sounding more amused. "They sent a thousand shinobi to kill you and they couldn't do it?"

"Well, if it wasn't for the back-up that came at the right time I'd be dead," Minato said, leaning back against the couch pillows and placing his legs on the table.

Kushina seemed to be digesting all these news of his attempted assassination, but after a moment she picked up one of his heavy Hiraishin kunai and copied his posture. In the meantime, Minato stole a glance at her and had a hard time himself to digest the fact that she was indeed extremely pretty.

"You know, I was kinda shocked when I saw your kunai land right in front of me," she said, her voice beginning to become sleepy. "Thought you'd pop out any moment. And the enemy were so scared they backed off."

"Just glad you got the message seal," Minato said, starting to feel the tiredness overcome him too. "Otherwise it wouldn't have worked."

"Well, duh," Kushina said, raising an eyebrow at him. "I was the one who taught you that seal to begin with."

"True," Minato smiled.

"I was a bit happy too, though," she smiled, starting to throw the kunai in the air and catch it as it fell. "Apart from the bingo book I've barely seen a sign of you since you left." She caught it one last time and grinned at him. "I guess I've missed my idiot."

He grinned back. "Likewise."

* * *

"Hey, Minato, wake up."

A hand shook his shoulder, and Minato opened his eyes. Kousuke were standing above him.

"General wants to see us," he said.

"Right," Minato said and sat up, stretched and looked around himself. He had fallen asleep on the couch, and on the next couch, Kushina was lying curled up against a pillow, breathing steadily in her sleep.

"Should we wake her up?" Kousuke asked in a low voice.

"Nah, let her sleep," Minato said, but before he left, he took off his jacket and covered her underneath it; she was shivering slightly.

It was indeed a chilly morning. The sky was clearing up, but there was still a trace of the mist which had covered the whole camp the day before. He and Kousuke walked over to a tent where meetings usually were held; the other Jounin were already there.

"Right," general Hiromu said when they entered. "Now that the last man is here, let's sit down."

They all sat.

"We have declared our defeat," he began. "Iwa and Suna have already retreated, and Ame has accepted their victory. The war is officially over."

Relieved smiles flashed over everyone's faces.

"We lost many during our last battle against Ame. Many good shinobi, too. We're lacking strong arms at the moment, so I want each and every one of you to accept Hokage-sama's request to take on a Genin team at your return to Konoha. He'll hold a meeting with you first thing in the morning."

"And when are we returning?" Inoichi asked.

"Tonight," he said. "So I want you to pack your stuff, clean up and get ready to leave at seven tonight. That gives you twelve hours."

This was surprising to everyone; to leave like that, so quickly? Though Minato could barely stop himself from grinning.

He was finally going home.


	13. Home

**Sorry for being such a douche and not writing lately, but I've been stuck at a demotivating level for some time now, and writing this chapter took me a loong time.**

**But I have most of my ideas in order now, so keep an eye up for more updates!**

* * *

**13. Home**

Getting things packed took less than the twelve hours they were given, at least in Minato's case; his biggest problem was that he had scattered his things all over the camp, so he spent most of the time searching every corner of every tent and watch post to find weapons, clothes and books. Kushina gave a helping hand by giving him his jacket back, and as he had lent a few of his books to Shikaku, he as well sought him up during the day. The easiest was to pick up the Hiraishin kunai he had strategically placed around the camp, and left one hanging from a tree for later purposes.

He was sitting at the watch post, dutifully doing his job to watch over the border between the Land of Fire and the neighboring country of the Rain Village, but he had difficulty keeping himself seated. His thoughts ran wildly, thinking that this was the last time he was sitting there, looking at the border, that he had spent his last night on the camp and that he could take the path back to Konoha and know that it was not to sabotage an ambush or prevent any enemies to go further into their country.

He looked around the camp. There were only tents, made of thick, white sheets that had grown dirty over the years. There were trees behind the camp, but in front of them, down a little hillside, the trees had been cut to give them free sight to the other side of the border, which was thick with forest. This was the last time he could call the camp his home, and he was happy for it; while he had always liked a natural habitat, it had been the same days for five years: the same people living there, the same people stopping by, the same watch post, the same tents … And a new, dangerous mission every time he had completed one.

He had been sitting there for two hours, feeling the time for their departure draw closer and closer, when long, red hair blocked his side-view. Kushina sat down on his left side.

"We're leaving in an hour," she said, handing him a bowl of fried rice. He took it happily, but continued gazing over the various trees, bathing in the setting sun on the other side of the border.

"How's Inoichi doing?" Minato asked, grinning innocently. Kushina groaned and tried to kick him in the shin, but as old habits die slow, Minato dodged her aim as easily as ever.

"Not you too," Kushina said.

"Just a question," Minato shrugged.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I wouldn't know how he's doing," Kushina sighed. "I try to ignore him if I can."

"So he still hasn't given up on you?" Minato asked.

Kushina grimaced. "He's just annoying, nothing more than that."

Minato emptied the bowl for remaining rice, placed it on the seat beside him, stood up and stretched. Several bones made cracking noises, and as he stretched his arms out, Kushina caught sight of the bracelet she had made for him five years earlier.

"What have you done with it?" she said, albeit smilingly, and grabbed his arm with a gentle touch to get a better look at it. Minato felt goosebumps on his arms and tried to ignore them, so he sat down, keeping his arm stretched out so she could have a look at the bracelet.

"It's all worn out," she said, taking it off.

"Sort of comes with wearing it for five years straight, doesn't it?" Minato said.

"You wore it all this time?" she asked, looking at him. "Even on missions?"

Minato shrugged. "I'll admit that it did grow on me," he smiled.

He thought he saw a smile play at the corner of her mouth, but before he could see her face making any sort of expression, she grabbed a few strands of her own hair and plucked them out. She lay the bracelet in her palm, placing the strands of hair on top of it, and green chakra glowed around it for a moment. The hair twirled graciously around the bracelet, fastening itself to it, and when the glow of green chakra disappeared, Minato could see the bracelet shine red when light hit it.

Kushina reached for his arm again and locked the bracelet around it. She smiled.

"The last time I did this I had to whirl it three times around your arm," she said. "It's weird to think you were so small."

Minato eyed the bracelet, which was still torn, but held together by the red, glowing strands of hair.

"Thanks," he smiled.

She kept him company until the sun had set and the general came to tell them the time had come to go home.

* * *

The journey back to Konoha took three days. They were a large group, consisting of the shinobi who had stayed at the camp during the last battle, Kushina's reinforcement team, a few higher-ups and Tsunade and Orochimaru. Moving in such a large pack proved to be difficult as they had to keep count, but eventually, they approached the large front gates of Konoha.

Upon seeing the gates, it was like Minato became a little child again. He smiled from ear to ear, so eager to see every bit and corner of the village that he almost set off at a run, but kept himself to the group who checked in and headed for the Hokage tower to announce their return.

"It's good to see you all again," the third said as they entered his office. The war had had its' effect on him, Minato could tell; his expression was serious and his face looked many years older. But it was with a smile he welcomed the group of returned shinobi.

"I'll let you get settled into your homes again," the third continued. "But before you do I have some information to you all. Those of you who set off a few days ago as back-up, will get your individual missions when you're needed. Tsunade, you're needed at the hospital, they're running short on medic-nin. Jounin from the border post," and he looked around at the group alongside Minato, "General Hiromu has already told you that I wish you to take upon yourselves the task of training a Genin team. The exams at the Academy are being held tomorrow, so you have until then to decide. But keep in mind that training a Genin team are of utmost importance, because we need strong arms until the time our neighboring countries have gained strength. I'll ask you now, have any of you considered this and come to the conclusion that you accept my request?"

Most of the Jounin who had already been confronted with the request raised their hands, Minato included. He noticed Kushina didn't, but saw her expression was rather sulky; had she not been allowed a team?

The Hokage smiled.

"Good," he said. "We will hold a meeting at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, after the exams at the Academy. Meet up there and you'll be assigned with teams. As for tonight, we'll hold a ceremony for those we lost during the war. Now go home and get some rest. Tsunade, Orochimaru, I want to talk to you."

Leaving the two of the freshly named Sannin behind, the group of shinobi left the tower. Kushina paced up to walk next to Minato, who was taking in every piece of the village with a content smile on his face.

"Where're you staying these days, then?" Kushina asked.

"Guess I'll head back to Jiraiya's place," Minato answered. "I sold my apartment before I left, you know."

"Right," she said. "And you have a key and all?"

Minato smirked. "No. But I left a kunai inside."

"Of course you did," Kushina smirked. "Always the planner. Well, if you're up for it, everyone's been planning a feast to celebrate that the war's over since it started. I heard from Tsume it's being held tomorrow."

"Sure," Minato said. "Will you be there?"

Kushina gave him a quick look, but Minato was a bit too occupied with watching the river beneath the bridge they were crossing to notice.

"That was the plan, yeah," she replied. "Meet me here around eight tomorrow, we'll walk there together."

"All right," Minato said, turning his gaze from the running water to her with a smile.

Kushina took a different path to her apartment while Minato kept walking forwards towards the house of his sensei. After a fifteen minute walk, he stood before it, feeling a bit sad that his sensei was not sitting on the porch, scribbling down stories in a book and waiting for him.

Making a seal with his hand, he disappeared from the front of the house and appeared inside a room where boxes with his possessions had been stored. It was a small bedroom, mainly used by him over the years. A bed stood by the window, and Minato had to grin; it hadn't been made since the last time he had slept in it. He made a mental note to remember to wash the quilt and the pillow case before going to bed. On the other side of the room stood an old-fashioned wardrobe which he opened. Inside was some of his old clothes; jackets, pants and t-shirts, all of which were too small for him now.

He decided to wait with the unpacking of his bag and the cardboard boxes, and went to explore the rest of the house. Barely anything had changed; the furniture was mostly old-fashioned, the couch was as comfortable as ever, and the kitchen was messy, though the fridge was almost empty. Jiraiya had probably expected to be away from his house for a while. Minato wondered how long he would be gone …

Searching the house for a spare key was easy enough, as it had always been a habit of Jiraiya's to hide things in his many, various books. His bookshelf was huge, but he had more often chosen books that were rarely removed from the shelves to hide things in, so as he chose a fat cooking book and flipped the pages, he was not surprised to see the spare key laying in it (after several attempts on other books, where he had found money, letters that were sealed in complicated ways and pictures).

The ceremony that night turned out to become a large, heavy funeral. Caskets, both empty and filled, were placed in order on a large, otherwise empty spot in the village, with photos and names of the victims on top. The Hokage was the one who spent most time talking, while Minato sat beside Shikaku as a comradely, silent support. Shikaku wore a hard expression on his face, his teeth clenched together in a fight against the tears that were pressing on. Minato didn't have to fight any tears; he had never cried in his whole life, at least not as he could remember.

The funeral lasted for two hours, two very long hours, until the Hokage told everyone they could say one last goodbye to their loved ones and stepped away. Minato visited several caskets, but spent most time staring at the empty casket that was supposed to be for Kiraku. They had never found his body.

With one last pat on the casket, as though patting a comrade on the back, he turned and walked in silence with Shikaku until they approached the Nara family's home, said goodbye, and in a puff of smoke, Minato disappeared – but he didn't go back to his sensei's house. On top of a large, cold figure of a head, he had a long time ago placed a seal. And that night, he was sitting there, staring at the village which was rarely silent, from top of the third's stone head.

* * *

Minato had been sitting on the stone head until the sun rose and the village became busy again, but after deciding to walk home instead of using the Hiraishin technique, he still didn't find himself sleepy. He spent most of the morning trying to make lunch from a recipe from the cooking book he had found Jiraiya's spare key in (he hadn't made his own food for five years, which had made him a bit rusty on that subject), and still not in the mood for neither sleeping nor unpacking, he sat outside on the porch with scrolls filled with different seals he was studying. The Genmaicha tea he had prepared was going cold as he became completely occupied with the seals and started drawing potential new techniques.

After a long shower and unpacking of essential things, the evening crept in and Minato left the house, dressed up in dark jeans and a shirt for the occasion (sweatpants were probably out of the question, he thought). He stood by the bridge waiting; Kushina was late, but that had always been the case. He stood with his arms crossed and leaning against the railings on the bridge, admiring the red gleam in the river, when he heard footsteps approaching. He turned, and his jaw was close to dropping to the ground.

He had never seen Kushina wearing a kimono.

"Sorry I'm late," she said with an apologetic smile.

"No worries, I was kind of expecting it," Minato said and ripped his eyes off the unexpected, green, white and black outfit to look at her face. It didn't help much.

As they were walking towards the village square, they came to the subject of _old habits_, such as Kushina's knack for hitting people who insulted her – at which Kushina said she could easily keep herself from hitting anyone if she was to prove a point.

"Right. Bet against Tsunade, and you may have a chance of winning this," was Minato's reply, at which Kushina gave him a challenging look.

They walked towards the village square, meeting several people on their way. One of the local sake bars had set out a large amount of seafood, fried rice and alcohol, and due to the cloud-free night, tables and chairs had been brought outside. Minato had decided to avoid getting anywhere near Kousuke and Inoichi this time, knowing that any chance of training the day after would be ruined if he let them pour him drinks all night again.

Though that was easier said that done. It appeared that Inoichi hadn't given up on Kushina after all, but was now trying out methods of highest annoyance – at least for Kushina. He had found himself a girl, led her to their table and seated them both on the opposite side of where Minato and Kushina was sitting with a couple of Uchihas. Inoichi then set off on a rant about how a girl had broken his heart.

To Minato, this was extremely amusing.

"She was not a good choice," Inoichi said to the girl who's expression had turned into a sympathetic one. "And she was violent too."

"Violent?" the girl asked with a gasp.

"Yeah, she sometimes hit me for no reason at all."

Minato gave Kushina a very meaningful grin to remind her that she had promised not to hit anyone tonight, which she replied with a look that said very clearly that she could do much worse things than hitting.

The girl started expressing how sorry she felt for him, and turned to Minato with a worried look.

"You don't know who it is, do you? How do you feel about this?"

"Horrible, isn't it?" Minato said, but couldn't keep the big grin away from his face. Several times he saw Kushina open her mouth to say something but decide against it, and it surely looked as though she would burst out any second. Finding it wise to keep her occupied, Minato stretched out for a sake bottle and poured them all drinks.

"Tuck in, Kushina," Minato said, handing her the glass, which she emptied without saying a word.

Unfortunately, the sake didn't come unnoticed by Inoichi, and he had soon poured so much sake for all of them that Minato, the lightweight he was, at some point was the first to black out.

And a rather red-cheeked, giggling Kushina tried to support him as she had announced that he should go home, but Minato had no sense left to know which way home was. Kushina saw no other option than to drop him on the couch in her own apartment, seeing as she had always avoided Jiraiya's house if she could help it and couldn't remember the way herself.

With some help from Kousuke, Minato was finally dumped on the couch, and fell asleep almost instantly.


	14. Vegetables

**I loved writing this chapter, it was so much fun. Writing about the same few characters every chapter makes it bit bleached, but not when you have the lovely Team Minato arriving! Besides, I've finally reached the points in my story that I have been looking most forward to writing.**

**And I would just like to say thanks for reviews, I appreciate them!**

**Especially the one not long ago asking me of my opinion on homophobes, ending the review by calling me a faggot. It was no fun, because he/she was anonymous, so I couldn't reply.**

**Too bad, I would love to give my opinion on homophobes - I mean, why ask me a question when I can't answer it?**

**(I deleted the review, though - really, he/she didn't manage to make it relevant to the story. Jeez.)**

******Enjoy the chapter!  
**

* * *

**14. Vegetables**

Minato felt somewhat like a squashed mix of vegetables the day after.

Not only had he woken up in a room that wasn't in his house (or his sensei's, for that matter), he had woken up in a different place than he had fallen asleep at. He could vaguely remember waking up very early in the morning and going to the toilet, but instead of returning to the couch in the sunlit, warm living-room, he had moved rather automatically and half asleep to Kushina's bedroom. It was a good thing her bed was large – at least he had just sunken down on the edge of the bed – but he cursed himself silently for having slept next to and in the same bed as Kushina without even noticing. And shirtless, too.

Or maybe it was a good thing he didn't notice, maybe things could have been even more awkward if he woke up and she was still laying next to him. When he woke up, Kushina had already gotten up and made breakfast. Minato spent a long time working up the courage to lift himself up from the bed; not only because it would be rather awkward to meet Kushina outside the room, but because he knew of experience that he would feel rather horrible when sitting up in a condition like this.

The morning had also ended up slightly awkward due to the fact that not only Kushina was sitting on her morning-sunlit, breezy balcony, but an unmistakably pregnant Mikoto, and she had been very surprised (and very curious to know why) to see him emerging from her bedroom, looking slightly as though he had been beaten a hundred times over. Though Kushina had tried to explain why he had to stay over, she couldn't entirely explain why he had been sleeping in her bed, nor could he.

And though the sight of warm breakfast was indeed very tempting, he left in a puff of shame rather than smoke to take a shower and get changed before the meeting at the Academy.

At two thirty he stood outside the Academy, feeling nostalgia coming to him. Children were standing outside, coming out one by one after finishing their exams, talking happily to their friends and family, wearing their new, shining forehead protectors. Minato was standing by the fence with several other Jounin, most of whom were wearing the usual shinobi uniform of Konoha – Minato, on the other hand, found his usual pair of sweatpants, bandages and singlet slightly more comfortable in the warm spring air, and still had not started wearing the uniform. Though he had brought his weapons, including his swords, and was wearing the forehead protector as well.

"Big lot who passed this time," Kousuke said from beside him. "Let's hope they're not all morons, I heard they're going easier on them because Hokage-sama needs them to start off early."

And sure enough, as the next half hour passed, more children left the Academy, all wearing their forehead protectors with big, satisfied smiles on their faces. At last, the Hokage came out, signaling for the Jounin to step inside. They left the fence, and it was easy to tell that the new Genin had completely overlooked the number of Jounin who had stood nearby watching them; several of them jumped, either of surprise or a bit of fright, going silent or looking at them with open mouths. Minato couldn't help but take a long look at a boy who stood by the wall, all alone and with a rather expressionless face. It was easy to see – the resemblance was unmistakable – that it was Hatake Sakumo's son.

And the reason why he was standing alone made it feel as though a hand was clenching at Minato's chest. Hatake Sakumo had committed suicide three years ago, found on the floor by none other than the boy who now stood there in his presence.

They walked along a corridor (Minato thought it had shrunken during the eight years that had passed since he graduated), and entered a meeting room. Settling down by the long table, the Hokage called for silence, though most of the Jounin had already turned to him, giving him their attention.

"You may have noticed how many Genin left the Academy today," he said, receiving several nods. "I must admit that we are facing difficult times, seeing as we were one of the countries who suffered most from the war. There's no doubt our hostile neighbors have better opportunities of regaining their strength, and therefore I'm taking precautions. More students than usual graduated this year, so I set my trust on you to train them well. Many of them would may not have graduated had the circumstances been different."

He took out a long list of names, set up in three and three.

"I spent some time setting up potential teams based on their previous test results. As the individual students have graduated or failed I have made adjustments and crossed out names, and here's the outcome of this."

He started listing up the teams, starting at team one, and gave each team leader bits of information about their assigned teams. Kousuke was leading team three, consisting of two troublemakers and a very skilled and engaged one, saying that the difference in personality should be used as an advantage to get the troublemakers on the right track. Kousuke accepted the team with a determined nod, but looked as though he wondered how on earth this was going to go.

Finally, the Hokage turned to Minato.

"Minato, you're the leader of team nine," he said. "First of all you'll have a trainee medic-nin on your team, Nohara Rin. She seems promising, and will also be good to help you with Uchiha Obito, who's a rather clumsy and forgetful boy. Though your biggest challenge will be Hatake Kakashi, Sakumo's son. You shall know that he is extremely skilled, a prodigy close to the level you were when you graduated. They're all nine, so they are even younger than you were when you graduated, but I assume you'll lead them well."

Minato nodded, slightly taken aback at this piece of information. So he had been assigned Hatake Sakumo's son … Though he felt rather pleased, being able to control the situation of the boy; had someone else been assigned him he would've only pondered on how he was doing.

When all teams had been read up, the Hokage put the list down and looked at them all.

"Your teams will be here at nine o'clock on Monday morning, waiting to be picked up in different classrooms. I wish you all good luck."

And with that, the meeting was over.

* * *

"Sakumo's son, huh?"

Kushina picked up a cooked carrot with her chopsticks and ate it thoughtfully. They were sitting on the porch of Jiraiya's house in the afternoon sun, eating ramen from Ichiraku's that Kushina had bought. Minato was telling Kushina about the team he had been assigned.

"Yep," Minato said, taking a sip from a cup of green tea. "And a trainee medic-nin called Rin, and an Uchiha."

"Really?"

"Yep. Uchiha ..." he checked the paper he had been given on his way out of the meeting room, "Obito."

"Wow, you've got some team," Kushina said. "A prodigy, an Uchiha and a medic-nin?"

"Apparently Obito's a bit of a kid," Minato said with a sort of apologetic smile. "Clumsy and forgetful, according to Hokage-sama."

"A clumsy Uchiha?" Kushina said as though she couldn't believe it.

Minato shrugged. "We'll see."

"You two'll suit nicely together," Kushina said with a grin. Minato gave her an expression full of resignation.

"For the tenth time," he said, and Kushina sniggered. "I'm sorry I burst into your bedroom, I had apparently no idea what I was doing. Plus, beds have always been more comfortable than couches."

"True," Kushina admitted. "I'm surprised you couldn't handle alcohol better, though."

"Nah, just sake," Minato shrugged. "It's not like I drink that often, anyway."

Two days later, Minato was again facing the doors leading to the Academy hallway. Kousuke was standing outside a classroom when he entered, and waved Minato over.

"Your team is inside here, too," he said very lowly, pointing at a list on the wall. The door was opened just a few inches so they could eavesdrop at the class.

"What's going on inside?" Minato asked in an equally hushed voice.

"Their teacher just left, so they're waiting," Kousuke replied, listening to the Genin inside who were muttering to each other as more Jounin turned up and listened curiously at the door with them.

"None has been picked up yet, though," Kousuke said.

And as though both he and the Genin were thinking among the same lines, they heard a boy call out louder than the rest.

"Where are they, anyway?"

"It's not nine o'clock yet, Obito," a girl replied hastily. "The teacher _said_ nine o'clock."

"It's only in, like, one minute," the boy, Obito, replied in what sounded like an impatient tone.

"Like you're always right on time," another boy said irritated.

"I didn't ask for your opinion," Obito replied sourly.

"Oh, please don't start fighting again, you two," the girl said worriedly. "If we're supposed to be a team we have to be able to cooperate -"

"Why do I have to listen to what that -"

Minato sighed.

"Is that your team?" Kousuke asked, and Minato nodded. "They're up for a pretty bad start, aren't they."

"Not on my watch," Minato said, and he stepped over to the door and pushed it open. Silence fell immediately over the classroom at the sight of the seven Jounin who came walking in, and Minato noticed that several eyes lingered on him as he walked along the wall, forming a line with the other Jounin; apparently, words of his growing inter-village-celebrity had reached even the Academy.

As he stopped, it was as though a silent agreement had been made between the Jounin: that they started announcing their teams from the far end of the line. Minato decided to speak with a slightly raised voice.

"Team nine," he said, looking over the small crowd of Genin, who were sitting in groups of three and three. He missed out on the fact that some of them looked disappointed, but it was impossible not to notice the black-haired boy, wearing goggles and a blue and orange outfit, suddenly standing up with a gleeful look on his face.

"That's you, I presume?" he said to the boy, who nodded and left his seat accompanied by the boy he had seen standing alone two days before and a brown-haired girl with a kind expression. As they walked towards the door to leave the classroom, Minato turned and stopped for only a moment.

"And you two better start listening to her," he said to the boys; both looked slightly taken aback. Rather pleased that they had been caught ranting to each other and that he had taken them by surprise, he almost smirked as he turned back to the door again.

It was as though his first words to them had given him all the respect in the world. He led them outside towards a place where they could talk without interruptions, and as he did so, they walked perfectly silent behind him, as though worried they might get scolded if they said anything at all. Though as he settled on a railing by the riverside and the three of them lined up, very insecurely, in front him, he looked at them with a warm grin.

"So!" he said happily, clapping his hands once as though beginning to work on a challenging, yet funny task, and the three of them jumped of this sudden movement. "Let's introduce ourselves. Take a seat."

They sat down on the long row of bench seats running along the river, looking at him with anticipation written in their faces.

"Let's start with the girl, shall we?" he said, turning to the only girl present.

"Uhm, what should I say?" the girl asked uncertainly.

"Well, you can start with your name," Minato said. "What you like, what you dislike, your ambitions, things like that."

"Okay, well, I'm Nohara Rin," said Rin. "I like strawberries and friends, but I reeeaally dislike tsukudani. And my ambition is to become a medic-nin like Tsunade-sama!"

"Good," Minato smiled. "Next."

"I'm Uchiha Obito!" Obito said excitedly. "I like friends, too, especially some people," and then he cast a gloomy look to his left, where the silver-haired boy was sitting expressionless, "and I dislike others."

Minato observed him for a moment.

"And your ambitions?" he then asked.

"To one day become one of the strongest Uchihas in the clan!" Obito said, switching moods again.

Kakashi made a snort, but before Obito could open his mouth and ask him what his problem was, Minato raised his voice.

"And what about you?" he asked Kakashi, ignoring the increasingly bad atmosphere between the two boys.

"Hatake Kakashi," the boy said without any excitement noticable – nor any smile, but it would have been hard to tell, anyway, seeing as he was wearing a mask. "I don't really dislike things, but I hate people who act like trash. I like reading. And my ambitions are to fulfill my role as a shinobi and become strong."

"All right," Minato said. "I'm Namikaze Minato. I like reading as well, and I try not to dislike too many things. My ambitions are to one day become Hokage."

He slid off the railings.

"Well, now that we've introduced ourselves, let's go have our first training session."

He pointed behind him where, on the other side of the river, fences were placed around a large training field.

"You're gonna teach us new techniques already?" Obito asked, clearly both surprised and excited by this news.

"Not exactly," Minato said, at which Obito's face fell a little. "Let's play a little game of tag first."

He had to give all three of them credit for being able to look so genuinely confused.

"Come on."

He led them to the training field, walking past the three wooden posts he remembered Jiraiya had taken him and his team to during their first training session. Turning around at them, he brought something from his pocket; something that made the unmistakable, ringing noise of -

"Bells?" Rin asked in confusion.

"Try to take these from me," he said and held up two bells for them to see. "Do it before noon, or all three of you will be tied up to those wooden posts until I decide what to do with you."

"What to -" Rin began, but was interrupted by Obito.

"That's it?"

Minato smirked.

"That's it," he said. "But don't think it will be easy."

"You're joking!" Obito said, and receiving a gasp of surprise by Rin, he charged.

But before he could do so much as touch the bells, Minato had disappeared.

"Charging face-to-face is a good way to find out your opponents counter-attacks," Minato said, crouching on top of one of the wooden posts behind them; they turned around and their faces turned into that of confusion again. It looked rather cute.

"But," he said, reappearing behind Obito with a kunai resting by the boy's throat. "It may also kill you."

Even Kakashi looked deeply impressed for a boy who didn't show many expressions.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"It's called the Hiraishin technique," Minato replied, still keeping the sharp kunai against Obito's throat. "It allows me to transport to places where I've placed a certain seal. If you had looked more carefully around you, you would have seen the seal on this kunai behind Obito, which I dropped before I transported to the posts."

He made a seal with his free hand.

"Figure out the best way to counter me and take the bells. You have until noon."

And once again, he disappeared.

* * *

Minato stood straight, the sun shining at his neck. The two bells were casually being thrown in the air and caught again with his hand, though he paid little attention to them. He was staring down at the three Genin in front of him, his face looking like that of a person who tried to decide which garbage can to throw his garbage in; he looked considering, yet the choices he had were not giving him any joy.

The three Genin were tied up to the wooden posts, covered in scratches, dirt and expressions full of anticipation and, Minato thought, fear.

"Do you know why you were given this task?" Minato asked.

They were silent for a moment.

"To test our strength?" Obito tried.

"Not entirely," Minato replied, shaking his head.

"To test our intelligence?" Kakashi followed up.

"Still not the right answer."

While Minato continued throwing the bells in the air, the three Genin looked as though they were thinking hard. Minato then sighed.

"It is a test made to see whether or not you meet the qualifications to become shinobi."

Obito's jaw dropped.

"But what about the Academy exams?" Obito complained. "All those tests we passed - we graduated, didn't we?"

"Theory and basic techniques are not enough to become good shinobi," Minato said, looking at them sternly. "There are much more to it. This task is made to see who can continue the life as shinobi, or -" he caught the bells one last time, "who will be sent back to the Academy."

The three of them were completely lost for words. Rin looked as though she thought this was highly unfair, Kakashi just looked shocked, and Obito opened and closed his mouth, apparently trying to find the right complaints.

Minato crouched beside them. Then, he smiled.

"But no worries, you've passed."

"Huh?" slipped out of Kakashi before he could stop himself.

"But," Rin said, now looking more confused than ever. "We didn't even touch the bells."

"Listen, you three," Minato said; Obito closed his mouth again, concentrating hard to catch every word his team leader was saying. "Kakashi, you have more skill than I expected, but don't look at your comrades as though they're in your way. Obito, the same to you. I know it's important to be acknowledged, but you're trying too hard to be recognized; you barely gave any of the others time to act before you charged on your own. Rin, you're an intelligent girl, and if it weren't for you, all of you would have failed. I warned you at the Academy that you should start listening to her, and you were lucky she managed to persuade you into working together."

He stood up and started untying them from the posts.

"The most important thing to a shinobi is teamwork. Remember that. The success rate of a mission depends on it."

"But, sensei," Obito said, though not in a complaining voice. "You've always gone on missions alone, right?"

"Not always, but I have," Minato replied, finishing untying Rin. "The reason why I've been working alone is because I can, not because I found it more convenient for myself. Working in teams makes it easier to make difficult choices, get missions done quicker and get out of missions alive."

"Alive?" Rin asked horrified.

"Yep," Minato said crouching down beside them again; they had been to occupied listening to him to stand up. "Not many weeks ago I was on a mission on my own. I ended up in a very difficult, very dangerous situation. Had my comrades not noticed things were not going according to plan and come after me, I would have been killed that day."

Rin gasped once more.

"What sort of dangerous situation was it?" Obito asked, his expression still rather dumbstruck.

"I was supposed to stop a single man from entering our country," Minato said. "But instead I was ambushed by about a thousand enemies."

Silence fell over them again, where they all looked at him in awe.

"That's why working as a team decreases the mortality rate of missions," he continued, and turned with a smile towards Rin, patting her head. "And that's why we're lucky to have a medic-nin in our team."

Rin blushed, but looked pleased.

"So this test," Kakashi said. "Was just to see if we could work together, as a team?"

"Correct," Minato said.

"But what about those who don't really suit together?" Obito asked, trying and failing to hide the fact that he was really asking why his rants with Kakashi had not caused them to fail. "Wouldn't that be unfair to them?"

"As a shinobi, whether or not you like your companions have nothing to say on missions. If you're able to work out plans and strategies and fulfill them to your best ability, your teamwork will work fine. Though it's best if you get along well, too," he added, now looking at them with a dejected sort of smile.

"Sensei, did you catch the bells?" Rin asked curiously.

"I did," Minato smiled. "But that was not the reason why my team passed."

He stood up, clapping his hands together again.

"Now, who's up for ramen?"

And their faces – even Kakashi's, though a little unwillingly – lit up again.


	15. Secrets

**15. Secrets**

Already by the time their very first trip to Ichiraku's was done, Minato's new team of little Genin had managed to press so much information out of him he doubted there were more to ask. It had been everything from when they were going to learn new techniques, when they were going on their first mission and things like that to more personal matters – Minato's personal matters, to be precice – where they especially focused on the fact that he didn't have a girlfriend.

Though all in all, after every uncomfortable or difficult question and after splitting up the two boys ranting at each other, Minato felt that his cute little soldiers had grown on him.

Weeks passed, where they learned to control their chakra properly. Kakashi did fine, understanding the concept at once, but didn't have an impressive chakra storage to begin with. Obito seemed clumsy at the first attempts, but proved to be an incredibly quick learner, and could now perfectly control his own chakra. Rin worked tirelessly, having managed fine attempts ever since the first one, and was soon catching up to both of her teammates.

They had also taken on a number of D-ranked missions, and as they sat in a potato field just outside the village, Obito was finally bursting with complaints he had held inside him.

"Sensei, seriously," he began, straightening up, sweat running down his face from the hot sun. "Why do we have to do this? Don't they have farmers for this?"

"I've told you before, Obito," Minato replied from where _he _sat, which was underneath a shady tree with a book. "You take on D-ranked missions until you have enough ability to move on to C-ranked ones."

"But what's the purpose?" he complained, now standing up. "We don't learn anything from potatoes!"

"You learn how to work for a client," Minato said, looking up from his book. "The process from the client requests a mission until the mission is fulfilled and the payment is done. There shouldn't be any misunderstandings during this process, that's why you're starting at a low rank."

Obito grumbled.

"You'll get there soon," Minato said reassuringly. "I've talked to the Hokage. Once you've perfected your formations, we can take on C-ranked missions."

"Really?" Obito said excitedly, and Minato thought he heard Kakashi let out a sigh of relief. Even though the boy was far more skilled to be working in a potato field (and he knew this very well himself), he hadn't complained once since they started doing missions. He had actually obeyed every single order Minato had given him, not even questioning them. And though it made Minato a bit worried to see how little Kakashi gave his own opinion on matters and how he didn't seem to improvise very often, Minato expected the silver-haired boy would become more flexible when they met more challenging missions.

Their training had, as Minato had discussed with the Hokage, gone very well. Over the next couple of weeks they trained hard on different formations, adjusting to each other and improving their techniques. He was very pleased to see how much Obito had improved since they left the Academy, and was also impressed by Rin, who managed to do every training session they had together and working on her medical skills at the hospital after. He also saw Kakashi as too good to be waiting for the other two to catch up, so he decided to teach him more advanced things, thinking it would be a waste of his talent to make him wait.

So Kakashi had already started training on shaping his chakra.

And after two months as a team, Minato met the three Genin by the wooden posts in the largest training field once again, pulling out two bells from his pocket.

"Let's see how the training's paid off," he said. "Don't be too disappointed if you can't catch it, but I still believe you have good chances. You've done very well."

The three prepared themselves with new determination on their faces, completely different to the confused and uncertain ones they had shown on that training field two months before.

They sure had improved. So far, Minato had worked with them as a teacher and support, but now, he acted as an enemy. They had already been warned that when they were going to train with him for combat, they had to go at him with the intent to kill – apparently, this news had never left their minds, and they charged at him harder and with more preciseness than he had expected.

Though unfortunately, Minato was still not defeated. And that was probably the downside of having the strongest teenage Jounin of Konoha as a team leader.

Obito had been caught in a clever trap even Kakashi had difficulty spotting, and while Rin was trying to set him free, Kakashi tried to hold Minato at a distance so he wouldn't interrupt. Though when Obito was back on the ground and the three had grouped together again, trying again, they were all panting heavily, exhausted.

"This is ..." Rin panted when they backed off at least thirty feet. "This is … Impossible ..."

"Come on, you three," Minato said, trying to keep their spirits up. "All of you have managed to touch the bells; Kakashi almost managed to take one of them."

"But you're undefeatable," Obito said.

"Unbeatable," Kakashi corrected him, wiping sweat off his brow.

"Nah, he's not," said a voice that had not been present during their fight. They all turned towards the edge of the forest.

"Who's that?" Rin asked.

"You know this training field's been reserved, right?" Minato asked the now mischievously grinning girl who stood leaning against a tree.

"Nothing wrong with watching, is it?" Kushina replied.

"You're interrupting," Minato reminded her.

"Wait," Obito said. "What d'you mean he's not undefeatable?"

"Unbeatable," Kakashi repeated.

"Can you take the bells from him?" Rin asked curiously.

Kushina shrugged, but pushed herself off the tree and approached the three Genin. "I've never tried before."

Minato gave her a challenging look, perfect for taunting exactly her; it looked playful, yet it had a derogatory hint to it. He knew she hated that look and would do everything to wipe it off his face.

"Want me to try?" Kushina said bitterly as a reply to the look. "I could give your sensei a taste of what it will feel like when you're older and stronger."

Obito looked extremely stoked on this, but Kakashi looked as though the girl standing in front of him had just made a serious crime. But before he could say anything, Minato had, his eyes still keeping contact with Kushina's, signaled for them to back off to the edge of the forest, and they all obeyed.

Minato had barely had time to think out what to do when Kushina charged at him with high speed. Not having time to escape, Minato raised his fist to give an offensive response; right on time he could sense another Kushina appearing inches behind him, and he could hear Rin gasp – though he noticed, not according to Kushina's plan, that both Kushinas were Kage Bunshins, so as he turned around to take on the second redhead clone, he felt no hesitation whatsoever as he slammed his fist hard on her stomach, pushing her down to the ground with a loud, bone-cracking crash which made the earth shatter underneath her. The clone disappeared, and the first clone had reacted the way Minato had wished for: she was surprised by his speed after attacking him so suddenly, and Minato sent the clone off in another puff of smoke before it had really done much.

Obito's jaw had dropped to the ground. The fight had lasted seconds, yet the unknown girl had managed to get closer to Minato than any of them had during their hour-long session.

And his jaw remained that way for the entire battle. Kushina had learned how quick he was and relied on strategy rather than strength, and soon, the battle had turned into a bell-switching frenzy. Kushina could only hold on to the bells for short moments; sometimes only seconds at a time, the shortest moment being when she stopped him from moving with her newly developed chakra chains, but unfortunately, her chains weren't that strong yet, so she had barely managed to grab the bells from him and leaned back when his hand broke free and he literally ripped them out of her hands. Though the chains were new to him, the thing that startled him most was when she stood several feet away from him, clenched her fist and brought it to the ground with such force that the earth beneath them cracked open, and he barely got away. She also liked to defend the bells by sending large pieces of earth and trees to him, using the same force of strength, and in the end, Minato was surrounded by several Kage Bunshins, all trying to squeeze him flat between the earth; Minato saw no choice but to take his swords, insert chakra in their blades and make a sharp slash towards one of the large, rocky earth chunks, making an opening through which he could escape. Though when he had only just began searching out the real Kushina among the clones, all of them disappeared in puffs of smoke.

Minato stood panting heavily, looking around him for any sign of a redhead.

"Where is she?" Rin asked, apparently at a loss to understand where she had gone to as well. Minato crouched and placed a thumb on the ground. He then grinned and shook his head; the only persons apart from him left on the training field were the three Genin.

"What's she doing?" Obito asked.

"Doing the only thing she could to keep the bells," Minato replied, now walking towards them. "She fled."

Standing beside the three young shinobi, he turned and looked out on the open field. It looked like a genuine battlefield now; the ground had been torn up on several places, and at some places, trees were either attempted broken in half or laying in bits over the grass.

"Who was that girl?" Rin asked. "Sensei, do you know her?"

"Oh, I do," he said, placing his swords back in their sheaths. "I've known that one since I was a kid."

"She was pretty," Rin said.

"Yeah," Minato replied before he could stop himself.

* * *

The warm sun reached the edge of the world slowly, sending red gleams over the rivers and windows of Konoha. There was a light breeze passing the house corners and rustling in the trees, much to the villagers' appreciation. People used the good weather for all it was worth; the winter was not cold in the Land of Fire, but the weather had always been grayer and more sour, while as the spring came, the birds sang for full, the chilliness disappeared and the moods of everyone seemed to rise as they managed to relax on their balconies and porches.

The spring had always been a good opportunity for every family and every team of shinobi to spend time outside, simply talking and enjoy the good weather at the same time. That was also the case for three of the shinobi of their generation's team six; on a large balcony that belonged to their sensei they were stretching out on the wooden planks, leaning against the sun-warmed wall, chatting mildly and happily. One was a brown-haired boy with his hands behind his head, another one was a spiky-haired, wild-looking girl with a drowsy dog by her side, and the last one was sitting in the middle, her red hair flowing freely down her shoulders.

It was such a calm and relaxing moment that Kushina, even though knowing she was meeting Mikoto very soon, was tempted to close her eyes and take a short nap.

Until a kunai hit the wall dangerously close to her face, standing straight out of the wall.

"Oh, hell no -" Kushina began, but before she had managed to stand up the balcony had become chaos – a man leaned over her, kunai against her throat and knee against her chest, her teammates had shouted in surprise and rushed up, weapons facing the intruder, Tsume's dog had jumped up and barked loudly -

"Bells back, please."

Seconds passed in which Tsume and Rabi slowly realized that it was Minato who had attacked Kushina and Tsume's dog had started wagging his tail. Kushina looked as though she had been called home from the playground after an especially fun game.

"All right," she sighed, pulling the bells out of her pocket and dropped them in Minato's hand. "You win."

"Thanks," Minato smiled, straightening up and replacing the kunai in his pocket. "You know, Hokage-sama wasn't pleased when I returned to his office without the bells."

"Sorry about that," Kushina said earnestly. "I really couldn't see any other option, looks like I still can't catch up to you."

"You surprised me, though," Minato grinned, at which Kushina looked questioningly. "It's been a while since I fought someone with strength like that."

Kushina looked genuinely pleased with herself.

"What's up with the bag?" she asked, finally noticing that he was, indeed, wearing a bag on his back.

"Oh, we're leaving for a few days," Minato replied. "It's their first C-ranked mission. I'm meeting at the front gate now."

"Hold on, I'll join you," Kushina said. "I'm meeting Mikoto there"

In a couple of seconds, Minato had transported himself to the Hokage tower, handed the bells in and arrived right outside the house of Kushina's sensei. Kushina handed him the kunai he had left her, and they started to walk towards the front gates of Konoha.

"I've always wondered, why is it so heavy?" Kushina asked, watching Minato as he made to place it back in his pocket.

"The shape," he said, and handed it to her. "Take it, you can try it out."

"Not with that seal," Kushina said as though reminding him; it wasn't the first time he had handed her a kunai like that or suggested that she kept one. Minato removed the seal, and Kushina weighed it in her hand. It looked somewhat naked without the yellow piece of paper around the handle.

"You've become stronger," Minato said.

"Same goes for you," Kushina replied. "Nothing unexpected, though, five years' a long time to improve ..."

"Of course," Minato said. "I guess I've missed out on a lot."

Kushina turned to him, walking backwards while playing with the kunai with a smile on her face. "You know, one can't know everything about a person, no matter how good friends they are."

"I'd say I knew you fairly well," Minato stated.

"Well, sure," Kushina shrugged. "I've already told you my biggest secret."

"Well, it's not like you _told _me, it was more like ..."

"All right, all right," Kushina said, turning to face the way they were walking. "So I ended up transforming, attacked you and sent us both to the hospital. What would you've done?"

"Probably the same," Minato shrugged.

"So," Kushina said in a teasing voice. "I can assume you have some big secrets you've never told me?"

Minato looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Why d'you ask?"

"Just curious," she shrugged, but looked at him expectantly.

"I may have," he grinned.

"Oh, really?"

They had neared the front gates of Konoha, where Minato's team was standing by the registration desk and Mikoto was standing a little further away, talking to her fiancée. Kushina stopped beside her, while Minato continued to the desk.

"Come on, tell me one secret," Kushina said, raising her voice slightly to be heard at the small distance. "You said you had some."

"I said I may have," Minato replied, dropped his bag on the ground and grabbed a pen to register their departure.

"Come on, I know you do."

Minato finished writing their names and the time as a grin spread across his face.

He turned towards her. She had begun throwing the kunai in the air and catching it.

"When we were kids," he said. "I had feelings for you."

Kushina's hands were posing to catch the kunai, but the kunai simply fell to the ground as a silenced Kushina glared at him (and really _glared_), hand still open.

Minato picked up his bag and made to leave, but before turning around, he gave her one last big, warm smile.


	16. An Act of Gratitude

**Thank you so much for all support!**

**A bit shorter chapter this time, but two chapters in three days ain't bad, right?**

* * *

**16. An Act of Gratitude**

The months that contained summer was supposed to be over, but as the winter months were approaching, the weather seemed to linger. The sun was still shining hotly over the village of Konoha, and had done so for the past six months; dry, hot, sunny weather made the villagers lazy, happy and relaxed, but also came with downsides.

At least for Kushina. The farmers were sending requests after requests asking for help with their fields, in danger of running short of water. And seeing as Kushina was amongst those who had the power to bend water to do as she willed, she was being sent along with other skilled Chuunin and Jounin on D-ranked missions.

For Minato, the downside was that he had to bear an annoyed, bored and grumbling girl.

He had been a lot busier than Kushina had during the summer, having a team to train and studying at the same time. He tried to get separate training sessions with both Obito and Kakashi after their team practices, while Rin spent time at the hospital; he then found time to study Fuuin jutsu, which left him with little spare time. And while he had rushed from training field to training field and devoured scroll after scroll, Kushina had had her missions now and then, and was doing the time-swallowing task of trying to use the Kyuubi's chakra with perfect control. Kushina may not have been the most restless person, but she did have a lack of patience.

Minato now had to bear the girl running out of patience too; her sensei was leaving for a long-term mission, and she needed someone to supervise her training in case she lost control.

"Breathe steadier, Kushina."

Kushina snorted.

"That wasn't very steady."

Kushina opened her eyes and gave Minato an annoyed look.

"We've been standing here for hours," she said. "And there's barely been any improvement at all."

"Of course there's been improvement," Minato said in mild surprise. "You've doubled the amount of chakra you can control since we started."

"Yes, but I still can't use it in battles," she replied and walked over to a small pile of water bottles in a bag, sitting down next to it. "I mean, that's the reason why I'm doing this, right? If none of my techniques will work in battle and I have to rely on the Kyuubi, the situation's bound to be quite dangerous, and if I have to concentrate like _this _–" she waved casually in a random direction – "I won't even be able to move an inch. I'll be rooted to the spot, trying to _breathe _…"

"You'll get better, I'm sure," Minato smiled, trying to act reassuringly, and it was a wonder it worked; even though Kushina had been impatient, annoyed and possibly a bit angry, she gazed at him for a moment before she looked down at the ground with a nod that didn't seem overly convinced.

"It's just, I can't even use it while I'm training for combat," she then said, now sounding sulky. "If I lose control and let the Kyuubi take me over … I mean, it's happened before. It was just by coincidence that I was at the right place and with the right people, and even then I managed to land you in the hospital."

Minato had to admit she was right. Kushina was both good-hearted and hot-tempered, and any attempt from the enemies that could make her furious or feel threatened, was a good opportunity for the Kyuubi to grab her emotions and steer them himself.

Last time, Kushina had not transformed that much, and she had been knocked out before she could do serious harm to anyone, thus stopping the transformation. Though if the Kyuubi could grab on to more of those emotions, she could transform further … and he would be a lot more difficult to stop …

"There might be a way to stop it," Minato said slowly as he thought hard on what he had studied lately. "If we could just seal the chakra away … Kushina, can I see that seal?"

Kushina glared at him for a moment.

"Uh, sure …" she said, and began to remove the belt tied around her waist. The cloth of the kimono top she was wearing fell to the sides, revealing a mesh t-shirt underneath; she pulled it up to expose her stomach, and made a hand seal to activate her chakra. Black swirls formed themselves around her bellybutton, making out the seal that kept the Kyuubi prisoner inside her.

Minato sat down beside her, placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her lightly down to get a better view of the seal. He became silent, all his focus on the seal, looking at every sign and swirl and sometimes craning his neck to get a different view of them. He was so focused on the seal that he did not notice Kushina's behavior; she tensed every time his fingers lightly touched her stomach, finding the whole situation pretty awkward.

The minutes passed in silence, in which Minato memorized the whole seal, and once disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared a moment later with scrolls of Fuuin jutsu in his arms. One after the other he opened the scrolls, reading them quickly, setting them aside if they were useless or placing them out in front of him if he needed them.

Kushina took a curious look at one scroll he had rolled out on the ground.

"Compression seals?"

"Yep. If we can make the Kyuubi's chakra continuously smaller, it should stop in the end. It's worth a try, anyway."

He received a rather impressed look from Kushina, and it was as though new hope lit on inside her.

And simply because of that, he begged for the seal to work.

* * *

Minato had spent a week developing the new seal, trying to match it to Kushina's seal. It was hard work, but he never gave up, keeping in mind the red-haired girl's look on her face as he said there was an option. Not a probable option, but a possible one.

One thing he was happy about, was that he now got to spend more time with his best friend. Ever since he returned to Konoha from the border they had caught up on their friendship, leaving them as good friends as they used to be.

They could again talk about everything, with one exception: when Minato had confessed his childhood feelings to her, she had clearly reacted, but when he came home a few days later, she had made a good attempt in avoiding the subject. And so the fact that Minato used to have feelings for her went undiscussed.

So Minato was forced to discuss the matter with either himself, or the one person he trusted on such fragile subjects: Shikaku.

"She probably just thinks it's a bit embarrassing," Shikaku said lazily, staring up at the sky from the patch of grass they were stretched out on. "But if you hadn't been so good friends, it would've been worse."

"True," Minato said. "I'm just seriously curious to know what she thinks of it."

"Well, it is a compliment, kind of. I'd guess she felt pretty good afterwards."

They stared at the clouds in silence for a moment. Then –

"The question is," Shikaku said, turning his head to Minato with a grin threatening to infect his face. "Did you tell her the _whole _truth?"

"No," Minato replied at once; he had thought a lot about it lately and was pretty certain on his answer. "If I had she'd probably avoid _me_, not just the talk."

"Why not give it a go?"

"I have no idea if she looks at me just a fraction of the same way," Minato shrugged. "Isn't that how it often ends up? When you've known someone for a long time you get sort of a brother and sister relationship …"

"Well, you never know 'til you've tried. Personally, I'd not try, but, you know … I'm trying to be a supportive friend here."

"I appreciate it," Minato grinned.

The day after was the first day to test out Minato's new seal. Kushina looked rather anxious, so he found it wise to explain that even if this attempt wouldn't work, there were more options left.

Though there was no need to worry. Kushina, now wearing only a short top for practical reasons, activated her chakra as usual, mixing it with the red, irregular chakra of the Kyuubi, trying to keep a steady flow inside of her. Her face was furrowed with concentration as she let out small bits of chakra at the time, and Minato waited until he knew the chakra flow was about to burst; he needed the chakra to be out of control to know if the technique would work. Standing ready with the hand seals done, he kept a close watch on any sign of her losing control.

"Ngh –"

The chakra flow was becoming an untidy tangle, and Minato quickly placed his hand on her stomach, hoping for the love of Kami that he hadn't overdone it. A black seal interrupted her already present one, and she crouched a little of the sudden pain – but within a second and a half the chakra was gone, as though it had been sucked back in her stomach, unable to get out.

"It worked!" Kushina exclaimed happily.

"It did!" Minato smiled widely.

"Just one thing, though," Kushina said, though she didn't look as let down as the last time she had found a hindrance to her training. "Isn't it sort of impractical? I mean, do I have to walk around with my stomach exposed and a bodyguard who knows the seal at the ready in case I lose control?"

"I've been thinking about that part," Minato said. "I could do the same as with my Hiraishin kunai; basically just transferring the seal onto a piece of paper that reacts to chakra. It won't even have to be placed at your stomach, I could just place it on your forehead instead."

Kushina looked as though her life could not have been better, and – it was possible that it was under the affection of bliss and a warming sun – she flung her arms around him in a big, grateful hug.

Minato thanked the sun dearly for waiting so long to surrender to winter.


	17. The First Mission

**I recommend you reread chapter 7 and 8 to get the beginning of this chapter.**

**Exams are coming up now, so there won't be many updates the next few weeks, but thanks to everyone who has faved, followed and reviewed this story so far! Couldn't have done it without you :)**

* * *

**17. The First Mission**

Minato was in deep thoughts.

"What're you thinking about?" Kushina asked.

Minato had been training with his team, and lay down on the grass. Something in his mind had recently grown bigger and bigger; he found himself utterly confused for the first time in a long time. Kushina had found him there and sat down next to him, and when he hadn't given any sign of acknowledging her existence on the training field, she had grown curious.

"It's just something I don't really get," Minato said, frowning. "Remember that mission Danzou sent me on that nearly had me killed?"

Kushina nodded. She wouldn't forget so easily.

"Well, I just don't see how it fits," Minato continued, supporting himself on his elbows and looking at the trees as though they would give him the answer. "First of all, anyone could've taken on the intruder, it didn't have to be me. Though Danzou seemed really sure that it should be me, because I would suit well for the job."

"Well, you did, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but what are the chances a lightning wielder is running on his own, trying to get into Konoha on one of the main tracks?"

"He was a decoy though, wasn't he?"

"Yep," Minato said. "And that's really what I don't get. How could they've known I was going to go after him?"

Kushina thought about this for a while.

"A spy wouldn't help, the decoy was already on his way, wasn't he?" Kushina asked. Minato nodded. "Unless," Kushina continued. "They knew you were free and about to see the general?"

"So you mean they took a chance that I was going to be assigned the mission?" Minato said.

"An intruder should be taken care of quickly, right? Maybe they took the chance that they would time it right with your return to the border post."

"Maybe …" Minato said, but it still seemed rather farfetched. Though it was a better theory than he had managed to come up with so far. He then looked up at Kushina as though he had just seen her. "What're you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Kushina replied with a smile. "Old man's sending us on a mission."

"Really?" Minato said. This would be the first time they would go on a mission together after they came back to Konoha.

"We're meeting at the Hokage tower in fifteen minutes," Kushina said, getting up and reaching out a hand to help him up. "Let's go."

* * *

Peace negotiations.

For the first time in his life, Minato actually felt that he could do something Hokage-related. He had been sent in the third's place, because obviously, the Hokage himself couldn't leave Konoha in such a state.

They were travelling to a country far north, a country he had barely heard of. It was an unknown country that kept themselves rather hidden, unnoticed and away from any inter-continental conflicts.

Also, it was a country that was freezing cold. Minato had never really known what that was like.

The Hokage had prepared the meeting with the unknown country's landlord for a long time, in order to secure themselves a good spot on their ally list; the country, albeit unnoticed, was full of skilled, well-trained shinobi, and any threat against them could crush the opposing land. They might not be engaged in war, but Konoha currently had a sorry relationship with the northern countries, and having an ally not too far away would be wise in case they were engaged in a battle outside the Fire Country.

And so, the snowy country had demanded that the third sent _"his best, most promising warrior, their biggest weapon and their most organized leader in his place, and in return, they would show them the same." _The third had explained that the country liked to know how their allies worked, and by showing off their strongest and smartest, they would be given loyalty and a confident friendship back.

And so, the two higher-ups from the different countries had agreed that the two strongest should battle together. Minato was highly curious and could honestly say he looked forward to fight someone who might be as equally strong as himself.

Kushina had departed with the same determination on her face, but he knew better; she hated being called a _weapon_. The Kyuubi was Konoha's strongest protection (even though it was out of control), and the snowy, northern country could be sure there were nothing stronger than that – and by exposing their Jinchuuriki to them, they would be sure Konoha was serious about their peace negotiations.

Their organized leader was general Hiromu, and Minato felt somewhat weird about being given instructions by someone else than the Hokage again. Having trained a team of his own had given him the freedom to rule, and he had gotten quite used to it as well.

"Sensei, how far are we going?"

Minato looked down at Rin. He had been allowed to take his team with him – they had shown so good progress lately that he felt a mission like this, protected by three skilled Jounin, was good experience for them.

"Very far north," Minato replied. "It takes about two weeks to get there, as far as I know."

"Two weeks?" Obito asked a little taken aback.

"We're travelling the last bit by boat," Minato said to answer Obito's unspoken question of _why _the travel took so long.

The first part was the easiest. Walking in their own country felt rather safe, and they met several people they knew on their way – a much more pleasant meeting than an ambush. Though the travel took one whole day and nothing in particular happened, Minato had to smile at his little team of excited Genin; this was the first time they went out of the Fire Country, and they took in every single part of the journey, even though they hadn't even left the safe and secure shade of their trees.

When they reached the border, however, Minato felt that it was time to knock the seriousness and danger of the mission in their heads.

"Listen, you three," Minato said and stopped to kneel before them as they were about to pass the guard at the border post. The three Genin looked at him in silence; Minato was rarely not smiling, and when he wasn't, they knew he was going to say something important.

"It's important that you follow our instructions from now on," Minato started. "We're heading into enemy territory now, and we have to do so carefully so they won't notice us. We're walking in formation: general Hiromu first, then you, Kakashi – you're the fastest in this team, you can take on any direct ambush quickly with the general – then you, Obito, because you have techniques that suit well to back them up in case they're having difficulties , and Rin, you're in the middle. As the medic-nin, you need the most protection. Kushina's right behind you, and I make the end of the line."

He looked at the three of them in return, watching how the information was sucked inside their heads.

"Don't make any loud noises or sudden moves. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to go back to Konoha, you do so. Do you understand?"

The three Genin nodded, if a little frightened; Minato had made it sound like they would be in furious battles because he knew they wouldn't take it seriously enough if he didn't.

"Good," Minato said, now smiling reassuringly at them. "Let's go."

And treading across the invisible line that marked the border between two countries, Minato had a feeling there might be more furious battles than he had liked.


	18. Flight of the Earth

**18. Flight of the Earth**

Something was wrong; Minato could tell. He was not the only one.

"We should've bumped into someone by now," Kushina said, reading his thoughts. They were sitting in the shade of some thick, rare trees that they didn't have in the Fire country, having already walked through one country, unnoticed by Grass shinobi. They had entered the Earth country, but there were no signs of any Rock ninja.

"But I thought we were just trying to pass unnoticed?" Rin asked, confused as of why the three Jounin seemed alarmed.

"We've been walking for five days," Minato answered. "Even though we're trying to sneak by, there doesn't seem to be anyone to … sneak by."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Obito asked quite unconcerned as he stuffed his mouth with rations.

"It's an unusual thing," Minato said, trying to eat with more manners despite the fact that he was starving.

General Hiromu came back from his watch, looking sort of puzzled.

"There's a village nearby," he said. "I took the chance to take a closer look at it. It's abandoned."

"How weird," Kushina said.

"I suggest we investigate a little further," the general said. "We might find something useful there."

After finishing their rations rather hurriedly, they got up and walked the short distance between their lunch seats and the abandoned village.

It was not big. The main street was easily found, and behind the buildings at each side of it, small streets filled with tiny, simple houses and workshops sneaked their way to the edge of the forest surrounding the whole village.

"Keep close to me," Minato told the three Genin, who immediately packed up behind him and looked around nervously. He opened up a door to what seemed to be a restaurant and walked in.

Despite being an abandoned restaurant, it was fairly clean. Dust had fallen on to the tables and chairs, but the layers were still quite thin. It seemed to have been abandoned by purpose; the chairs had been drawn tight up to the tables, the glasses behind the bar were all washed and placed tidily on shelves, bottles of alcohol had been removed and the lights were turned off. The kitchen and the storage was empty for any sort of food.

The situation seemed the same for every building. The hotel rooms looked as though they were still waiting for guests. Doors to houses were firmly locked and the stables had been cleaned out.

General Hiromu and Kushina – the latter carrying a small bag over her shoulder - joined them after having searched their own parts of the village.

"People have been here recently," Kushina said, at which she received agreeing nods. "I couldn't find any food, but I found a few weapons."

The general searched the bag; its content was mostly shuriken and kunai, but also a couple of weird weapons Minato had never seen before.

"It looks like they've left on purpose," Minato said. "Every house has been left clean, and important possessions have been taken."

"It's weird," Kushina said and frowned. "D'you think that was the case for the Grass as well?"

"Maybe, but I don't see why they had to move."

"I had a look at their tracks," the general said, handing Kushina the bag of weapons. "They seem to have walked in that direction -" he pointed North-West, "- so the problem must be coming from the South."

"We just came from the South," Kushina said.

"Maybe we're the problem," Obito suggested.

"I don't think villages would flee just because six Leaf ninja decided to take a walk," Kushina replied dejectedly. "I meant that if there were any problems from the South, we would have noticed, wouldn't we?"

"You're right," Minato said, but he still couldn't figure out why people had decided to leave their homes to travel North. "But we can't stay here, we have to move."

They left the village, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements that might suggest that people were still there. Though they walked til sundown without seeing or hearing anyone.

"It's just weird," Kushina said, gazing up at the starlit sky as though it would give her an answer. It was Minato's watch, but Kushina had been so thoughtful of the whole situation that she couldn't help discuss it, and currently, Minato was the only one awake.

"Maybe they've discovered a storm coming this way or something," she said. "I hope not."

"I hope Konoha knows, in that case," Minato said, but didn't find it likely that a storm was approaching. So far, the sky had been spotless and there had barely been a sign of a wind.

Kushina yawned.

"You should go to bed," Minato said. "You've missed an hour of sleep already."

"Unfortunately, I don't have a bed right now," Kushina said, but got up. "'Night."

"'Night," Minato replied.

Though it _was _weird. And through his whole watch, he couldn't help thinking it through, either.

* * *

They had walked for four more days, keeping as close to the border as possible to avoid bumping into Iwa, and through at least twenty more abandoned villages. During their second day of discovering empty places, the general had sent a bird to the Hokage, informing him of the rare situation.

"Best have knowledge of our neighbors' issues," he had told them as he had sent the bird off.

Though now, the general thought of it as more than just an issue. And so he sent another bird.

"All right," the general said. "We face our biggest worry yet. We have transport to cross the sea, but the problem is, unless they have made port near another abandoned village, there will be people everywhere. We have to get through unseen. Another problem is that the only place we could meet our transporters, is at a rather large village."

"Who're we meeting?" Minato asked.

"Our safest chance was to take a ride with the smugglers," the general replied. "We have reliable sources here who know the underground community rather well. They fixed us transport, I just hope the smugglers trust us enough. We could be anyone trying to lock them up."

"How far away are we?" Kushina asked.

"About half a day's walk," the general said. "But we're running out of time, so I suggest we pick up the pace."

And picking up his bag again, he turned and signaled for them to follow. Leaving the track and disappearing between the thick trees, they broke into a run.

When the sun again set, everyone seemed to have reached the point where they couldn't run another meter if they wanted to.

"We're nearly there," the general said as he handed out rations. "Wait here, I'll check out the situation. Let's just for once hope this place is as abandoned as the others."

He left, while the others ate in silence, hoping for the best. Though when he came back, he looked rather pale.

"It's not abandoned," he said; his face, however, looked worse than concerned, but he didn't seem to find the words to tell them why. So they followed him and walked for ten minutes, trying to keep as quiet as possible.

They neared the edge of what seemed to be a small hill, and lying down flat to the ground, they made their way to the very edge, looking down a steep wall of stone. They looked over the large village, and Minato felt his insides turn.

He looked at Kushina. She looked nauseous.

They had found out where all the people from the smaller villages had fled to.


	19. The Girl from the Whirlpool

**A longer chapter this time! And it will show some sides of Kushina. Hope you like it :)**

**Leave a review behind to let me know what you think!**

- _Two Steps from Hell: "Norwegian Pirate" (Archangel)_

* * *

**19. The Girl from the Whirlpool**

The village was more crowded than Minato had ever seen a village before. There seemed to be thousands of them, crammed in the street because of their numbers, moving around to find an available room to live in. Something close to a police force was trying to guide them here and there so the already settled villagers could get to their destinations; there were loud talking, discussions and the atmosphere was filled with what seemed awfully like desperation.

It had affected their little group of six, too. His team of Genin had dropped their jaws (Kakashi's expression told him as he couldn't see behind his mask), and the two other Jounin tried and failed to find opportunities to get through the mass of people without being noticed.

It seemed, Minato had to admit, impossible.

"Okay, it's not so bad," he said, but didn't sound at all convinced. Kushina gave him a look of incredulity.

"There are thousands down there!" she hissed.

"And they're distracted," Minato pointed out, trying to reassure himself that what he was saying made sense. "They're desperate to find somewhere to stay, and everyone else seems to be in trouble as well. They won't notice if we try to pass them."

"We could walk along the water," general Hiromu said. "There's no one there as far as I can tell."

"Where are we meeting our transporters?" Minato asked.

"We're meeting a middle-man on the smallest port," the general replied. "He's going to show the way. The smugglers can't reveal themselves in the open."

The general took a deep breath.

"Let's do this," he said, and crawling away from the edge, he got up and walked as silently as he could towards the ocean, where the least light hit the stone wall. The others followed.

The stones were slippery and cold as they walked down them, and even though their chakra sources helped them keep to their feet, the pitch-black ocean and the matching sky did nothing to improve their way down to the village; despite being unnoticed by the darkness of the night, they could barely see where they placed their feet, thus making their progress slow.

Finally, they landed on solid ground, and sneaked their way to the seaside, avoiding street lamps and light coming from houses.

There were more people than they had expected, and far from no one by the water. Luckily, Minato was right; they didn't pay any attention to the six Konoha ninja. Everyone seemed to be talking to someone already, and in loud discussions. Though for the safety of it all, the general suggested they used Henge to stand a little less out. After all, some of them were pretty known: the general was spoken of in every country, Kakashi didn't look much different from his father and Minato was listed in every bingo book.

Plus, both Minato's and Kushina's hair were hard to oversee.

Impersonating regular villagers made it easier to move around, but it was hard to not look suspicious. Every time they walked underneath the light of a lamp post, Minato avoided looking at anyone. A few policemen tried to speak to them – maybe they thought they needed a place to stay, too – and a few salesmen came running towards them, but lost them as soon as they had trickily slipped inside a dark alley or a shortcut. Finally, after receiving only a few suspecting glares, which still concerned Minato, they reached a small port, populated by only a few men. The general signaled for the other five to hide behind a small boat house, while he walked around the corner and approached an old, round-bellied man sitting on a chair, smoking a pipe.

He handed the man a letter, which the old man read thoroughly. They spoke a few words to each other – the other men looked as though they were trying hard to listen – and then the old man pointed. Towards the sea.

The general came back, and told them what Minato had already figured.

"We have to cross the sea by ourselves for a couple of hundred meters," he said. "The ship is banned from these ports."

Making sure the coast was clear, they walked to the water, activating chakra in their feet. Minato walked behind his three Genin to make sure they were all right – not that they couldn't control their chakra well by now – and they set off in the direction the old man had shown them.

It was a cold walk. The November wind blasted over the water, and salty drops hit their faces and clothes. Soon they could easily have taken a quick shower and feel as equally wet. The ship they were supposed to go aboard had turned their lights off, making it a barely visible, dark spot against the darkness, and it seemed to be miles away. Minato took one quick look behind him – the village was far away, looking like a glittering stone with all its lights.

He looked back at the boat and assumed they were halfway there.

_Splash._

The six of them stopped dead in their tracks, Minato shoving the three Genin behind him before he could properly see what had come up from the water. It wasn't one thing – it was at least twenty shinobi surrounding them, facing the six intruders.

The twenty shinobi raised their weapons, carefully approaching them.

"You are not villagers from this town," one of them said.

"No," the general said; denying it would be useless, seeing as six people, dressed in regular villager clothes as though they weren't shinobi, were walking the ocean.

"Who are you?" another said.

The general did not reply to this. Instead, he gave Minato and Kushina a sort of sideways nod – Minato knew he meant that they had to get on to the boat quickly – and drew a weapon.

But before he had done anything, Kushina interrupted.

"I'll handle this."

The general didn't seem convinced that this was a good idea.

"Let her do it," Minato said, receiving a rather surprised look by Kushina (the effect was not the same, seeing as she was dressed as a thirty year old housewife). However, the general knew of Minato's judgment, and had more often found it good. He nodded.

"Let's get these away from here," the general said and placed a hand on Obito's shoulder.

They were not looking very impressive, so the twenty Rock ninja surrounding them grinned and got ready to face the girl, twenty-on-one.

"A lesson for you," Minato said in a low voice, crouching between Rin and Kakashi. "Of why you shouldn't underestimate your enemies. Watch closely."

Kushina crouched down and placed her palm on the top of the water. It started to respond to the chakra, making tiny swirls.

After all, Kushina's nature was water.

"Are you going to -" Minato started, and Kushina nodded. Rummaging in his pocket, he took out one of his Hiraishin kunai; Kushina accepted it without second thought.

"Just pick me up when I'm done."

A gap between two of the shinobi appeared in the water; it was there for half a second before two large waves erupted from each side of it, raising above the two tall men – they were distracted and backed off -

"Now!" the general shouted, and shoving the Genin in front of them, Minato and Hiromu slipped through the gap and ran towards the boat.

"Follow them!" he heard someone behind them say, but they did not look back; soon, they heard the water splash behind them in a noise that sounded as though someone had been swallowed in the water.

Kushina wanted to make sure the five of them were safely on the ship before she did her final technique, but managed to hold the enemies back. She had perfect control of the whimsical water; she was, after all, quite whimsical herself.

The ship towered above them as they reached it, and a shabby ladder was lowered down to them. The Genin went first, then the general, and Minato last. He climbed aboard the ship, and without looking at any of the crew members, he got out a torch light and flashed it once to show Kushina that they were safely aboard.

The sea became violent. The ship was too far away to be affected by Kushina's technique, but it rocked more and more; a large whirlpool was forming itself where Kushina was crouching on the water, too quickly for the twenty shinobi to escape. And Minato knew that a strong whirlpool was too strong for even the user to get rid off – hence the kunai – and a strong whirlpool was what Kushina needed right now.

The shinobi were sucked inside the swirling water, and Kushina used as much chakra in her feet as she could just to keep to the edge of it – suddenly, a single man showed up behind her, and she turned around just in time to react – making a move with her right arm, the water behind them rose in a large wave that was without doubt going to end them both inside the swirling mass of the gigantic whirlpool, and Minato disappeared from the boat, reappearing in time to get a firm grip around Kushina's waist before he felt his body being forced down and something hit him hard on the back – cold ocean swallowed them, disabling them from breathing, and barely able to think, he pictured the seal he had placed on the boat -

He suddenly felt fresh, cold air hit his face as he fell to his knees on wood and both he and Kushina drew their breaths hard. His head felt heavy with the seconds that had passed in which he had been watching the dreadful scene and then almost been drowned by the stream; clutching Kushina in an even firmer grip, water dripping from his again yellow hair and his regular clothes, refusing to let go, he thought with dread what would have happened if he hadn't given her the kunai.

"You two all right?" the general asked – he had rushed over as soon as he had seen them reappear. It seemed to wake Minato up; a little reluctantly, he let go of Kushina, but stole a look at her.

"Not a second too late," the general said, patting Minato on the shoulders as he leaned against the wooden wall surrounding the ship.

"Had you shown up a second earlier, we wouldn't have been drenched like this," Kushina said as she stroke strands of wet hair from her face, but grinned at him. Minato raised an eyebrow, but smiled.

That girl was really something.

* * *

The crew members seemed to be enjoying their company. They were interested in almost everything they had to say, and provided them with food, water, and, mostly for Minato and Kushina's sakes, thick blankets. They were still wet to the bones, but warmth spread slowly from the woolen blankets to their bodies. Also, they soon found out that a smuggler's diet tasted far better than they had expected.

The chef had taken a seat beside them as the food was served, and he proved to be both a good cook and a knowledgeable man.

"Maybe you know why the small villages have been abandoned?" the general asked.

The chef shuddered.

"It's a horrible tragedy," he said darkly. "I don't usually like people from the Earth, but no one deserves to experience such a disaster."

"What happened?" Kushina asked as she filled her spoon with soup.

"Their children started to disappear. At first it was a few, mainly in one village. They thought they had gotten lost and were sure they would return. But they never did. Then, several more disappeared from their homes. And soon, more of the smallest villages were affected. No one knows who the culprit is, or how many they are … But after a while, everyone decided to leave for the bigger villages. None of them have been affected so far, and they have tighter security. I guess they went there to get help, but all they've done is to cause a chaos."

"And there are no signs of where the children are?" Kushina asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing," the chef replied. "Disappeared as though they never existed. Gone."

Rin looked to be on the verge of tears; Minato patted her consolingly on her head.

"They may still be alive," he reassured her.

"Maybe," the chef said, shrugging. "I try not to think too much about it. Not much I can do, anyway."

They went to bed after their meal, exhausted from the long walk from Konoha. A smuggler's bed, however, was a hammock; a little less comfortable than expected, but better than hard ground.

It was unusual to be on a boat. He had seen one, but never been on one before; neither had his companions, it seemed. The general had fled to the deck for fresh air, and Kakashi looked a little green as he lay down in his hammock. Kushina, who was no doubt used to the sea, had fallen asleep as soon as she had drawn her blanket over her.

Minato gave in to sleep soon enough, but it was an uneasy one.

He dreamed that he was running through a forest full of thick, tall trees. He was lost from his group. He could hear them far away, but no matter how fast he ran they never came closer; suddenly, he stood on top of a large, wet cliff, staring out into the ocean which was full of storming whirlpools; in the middle stood a red-haired girl, frightened, staring at a large wave that rose above her, and it hit her, she fell over and disappeared in the strong stream of ocean, he screamed -

Minato woke with a start and almost fell out of his hammock. Clutching to it as though his life depended on it, he realized that he was on the boat, and that all of his companions – Kushina, too – were sleeping dearly in their own hammocks. Taking one last look at Kushina, he got up and went to the deck to see the sun get up.

* * *

The journey on the ship took five days, and with each day, the weather grew colder and whiter. During their third day, they could enjoy seeing snow for the first time in their lives – if you didn't count the tiny snowman placed on the very end of the ship. But Minato was used to the warm weather of the Fire Country, and he wasn't alone in wrapping himself up in blankets and warm coats.

It was also a quite lazy trip where not much happened. Being on a smuggler ship provided them with more alcohol than necessary, but taking the small Genin in consideration, Minato decided to leave the alcohol for later. Most of the crew members, however, seemed to be drinking from dusk til dawn – even the captain came swaying for lunch one day – so the general gave Minato and Kushina the task of keeping watch.

During one particularly boring watch, Kushina had joined Minato at the seat he had taken next to the snowman, staring out in the white distance.

"Cold?" Minato asked, offering her to share his blanket. She accepted it happily, and Minato suddenly found it awkwardly weird how close they were – they had been sitting close to each other several times, but they had never shared a blanket before.

It was just something about it that made Minato smile.

"What're you smiling at?" Kushina asked, taking a sip of the hot tea she had brought.

"Nothing," Minato said quickly, copying her move.

Happy that he wasn't interrogated more about his facial expressions and their reasons and happy for being able to share a blanket with the red-haired girl, Minato found himself sleeping better than ever before. And on their fifth morning on the smuggler ship, a beautiful view met them as they went up to the deck.

In front of them was an island, not a big one; but on it, from one end to the other, was a large wall, protecting a fortress, trees and roofs covered in white. In front was a tiny village, no doubt existing to serve the port, and people approached them as they neared the island. They looked curiously at the six strangers landing on solid land – Minato still felt that he was swaying slightly, which was not a good feeling – but the captain of the ship led them straight through the village and over to the large front gate of the fortress.

The sight was not what they had expected.

All around the wall, hundreds of snowmen had been made, all of them with pointy sticks for arms and pebbles for eyes and mouth. A few of them were awarded old hats, and others glared, not at the village or the ocean, but at them. Even though it was child's play, it was quite freaky.

"Who are you?"

The voice came from behind them, and they all turned around.

"Ah," the captain said. "There you are. I'll leave these to you, then."

With a final nod to the Konoha shinobi, the captain returned to his ship.

The person that had appeared behind them was a girl, not much older than Minato and Kushina. She was wearing a long pair of pants – a smarter move than Kushina's usual shorts and leggings – and a thick jacket with a furry edge on the hood, and her hair was barely blonde, almost as white as the snow. She had light blue eyes and pale skin, but her cheeks were pink.

"We're shinobi of Konoha," the general said. "My name is Yuuhi Hiromu."

"You're the organized leader, I believe?" the girl asked.

"That's right."

"And which of you is the strongest?"

A moment passed in which Minato contemplated why she was demanding such information, but at last, he took a step forward.

The girl didn't reply. She looked at him for a moment, before she drew a kunai from a pocket, still keeping her eyes on his. The move was unexpected, yet she didn't attack, and Minato understood; this girl was their strongest soldier, and she had one task: to fight him. And she wasn't going to wait.

Minato signaled for the three Genin to get out of his way, and they did so, following the general to the wall. Kushina lingered a moment to observe the girl, who had crouched on the ground.

Though when Kushina took a step away, the girl's eyes shot at her, and Minato realized before it happened -

_She's after her._

Ice shot up from the ground, sneaking around Kushina's legs and trapping her, and suddenly, the girl vanished from the spot and appeared in amazing speed before Kushina; however, before she could strike, Minato had blocked her.

The girl jumped back and smirked.

"I see, so you're fast as well," she said. "Let's see just how fast."

It didn't take long before Minato had figured out the girl's strategy. They battled for a moment – a few times, the girl made to attack Kushina, at which Minato always appeared before her (Kushina was still keeping the kunai Minato had given her during the fight with the Earth) and kicked, hit or threw the girl out of the way.

It looked at first as though the girl was using a technique similar to the Hiraishin technique; she appeared at random places to strike at different angles. Though one thing remained with every disappearance and reappearance: she was always replaced by a snowman, and appeared where a snowman had once been.

This tactic made it more difficult to defend Kushina, seeing as he had to defend himself from attacks involving snow and ice and that the girl was very fast. Kushina was still stuck, frustratingly enough, and everything she did to crush the ice only made the situation worse; the ice became thicker and stronger.

Though Minato had in the beginning thought that the girl was after Kushina because of the Kyuubi, the fight didn't seem to be for that reason at all. Whenever Minato kept his distance to the girl to attack, she charged at Kushina, forcing him to battle on short range, and he was relieved as he realized that this girl had no idea who Kushina was.

"Hide your chakra," Minato told Kushina after throwing the girl away again; she landed next to a snowman and disappeared. "It responds to it."

Kushina did as she was told and closed her eyes to concentrate, not bothering with keeping an eye up for the now deadly fight that happened inches away from her. Slowly, the ice started to melt away, and Kushina began to fight against her impatience that came with what undoubtedly was anger at being trapped.

Minato crouched and inserted chakra in the ground; a violent wind erupted from it, throwing the girl backwards, snow dancing in the wind like dust.

Kushina was now free, and out of anger, her head worked the wrong way; she made an attempt in throwing quick, sharp water towards the girl, but they froze to thin, sharp shards of ice stuck to the ground. However, Minato saw the fragility of the ice, and working up enough wind, he blasted at them, they broke free from the ground and raced towards the girl, who disappeared. Minato had foreseen where she was about to appear and drew his sword just in time to block the kunai she was striking with from behind Kushina -

"That's enough."

The voice came from the large front gate. The girl immediately drew her weapon back and straightened up, while Minato only lowered his sword. A man, maybe in his fifties, had appeared from the gate, wearing magnificent colors of light blue, purple and yellow. Plus, he was somewhat fat.

"I'm happy to see you've figured out a bit more about Konoha's strongest soldier," he told the girl smilingly, who smiled back. He turned to Minato. "I have no intetion of fighting with you, as you may well see – I'm not exactly built for battle – but do enter, please."

He made a gesture towards the gate, welcoming them inside. The general nodded, and after Minato had placed his sword back in its sheath, they followed the girl inside the wall.

"This is Naru," the man said, pointing at the girl Minato had just fought. "She goes as both our strongest soldier and our strongest weapon. The snowmen we have outside -" he pointed unnecessarily towards the gate, "- are hers. They keep watch for us, and if Naru activates them, they are quite fine soldiers, as well."

Minato was a little taken aback at this piece of news. He pictured a battle field, filled with deadly snowmen.

"My name is Shiho," the man continued. "I am the lord of this fortress. Our country do not have a name, we don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves. Though it does comfort to have allies on the big continent that we can trust."

"Of course," the general said. "You may know that we are in a quite similar situation, except that we live close to our enemies."

"I do," Shiho said. "Now, I am curious. Where is your strongest weapon?"

He looked at them as though expecting to see them take out something from their pockets, and his eyes lingered on Minato.

"Kushina is," Minato answered, gesturing towards her and making a mental note that he should apologize later for calling her a weapon.

"You don't say?" Shiho said interestedly. "Let's talk inside, I can see you are freezing. It must be warmer in the Fire Country."

He led them inside a pair of tall oak doors that led inside a small hall with a long table in the middle. The chef from the smuggler ship had apparently gone ahead and made food; he was standing by the chair on the very end, already having placed plates, glasses and different meals on to the table.

"Sit down," Shiho said, placing himself on the end of the table. Naru took a seat on his right hand, while the general, Minato and Kushina found seats on the left. Rin, Kakashi and Obito sat down next to Naru.

"So tell me, while you tuck in," Shiho said, grabbing a piece of bread and turning to Kushina. "What is this weapon you hold?"

"The Nine-Tails," Kushina said without hesitating. Shiho dropped the bread as he stared, and Naru's chopsticks stopped before they reached her mouth as she looked up.

"I had no idea you were in possession of it," Shiho said. "Personally, I have little interest in the tailed beasts, but it's always a comfort to know where they are. Not that they're likely to cross the sea."

"I think most of the tailed beasts have a host at the moment," Kushina said. "Though I'm not sure who."

"But this makes me curious," Naru shot in. "If you are the weapon, meaning you're hosting a tailed beast, how come you're not stronger than him?"

She pointed at Minato, and Kushina suddenly blushed a little.

"Well, the problem is," she began. "The Kyuubi is very hard to control. If I try to use its chakra, it will either drain mine or try to take me over. So the progress so far is taking a while."

"I see," Naru said.

"By the way," Minato said, something coming to his mind. "If you were supposed to fight me, how come you used Kushina?"

Naru smiled. She had come out as cold and merciless when they had first met, but now, her eyes were filled with warmth.

"I like to see how other people protect their comrades," she explained. "To see if they can earn my trust. That's what the whole point of the battle was, really. So I thought that using your girlfriend would be a good move."

Kushina choked on the salmon she was eating, and Minato blinked. Never, ever, in his whole life, had he met someone who been that straight-forward. And never, ever, in his whole life, had someone spoken to him about Kushina in girlfriend-related terms in her presence.

"Oh, Kushina's not my girlfriend," Minato explained, trying to keep his voice calm. "We're just friends."

"Really," Naru said, gazing at the two of them for a moment and not at all sounding convinced. She had no doubt observed them through the snowman on the deck as they shared a blanket, and come to the wrong conclusion.

"Good friends, no doubt," Shiho smiled at them and waved at the chef to pour them more wine. "That's something we appreciate in our allies. Oh, I forgot to ask, who brought these?" He looked curiously at the three Genin.

"They're with me," Minato said, happy for the change of subject. He thought he could see Kushina staring very determinedly at her plate. "They're my team."

"I see," Shiho said. "Still Genin?"

"Still Genin?" Obito repeated, taking the question a bit offensively. "We've only been out of the Academy for, like, less than a year."

"And so young!" Shiho exclaimed happily. "And already out on a B-ranked mission. I'm impressed."

Rin beamed, Obito looked proud and Kakashi might as well have not heard it; his eyes showed no expression whatsoever.

"Well, eat up, I'll show you the fortress after," Shiho said.

Minato shot a look at Kushina, who looked back, and he winked at her. She looked down at her plate, blushing again.

Oh, how he loved to embarrass that girl.


	20. Sunset

**One of my readers gave me a wakeup call by reminding me that Kakashi is, in fact, Chuunin. Worst thing is, I already knew, it just flew out of the window. So from now on, Kakashi is a Chuunin, folks! ****Forgive me for my mistakes :)**

**I've had this chapter ready for days, and I've been dying to publish it.**

**Enjoy, people. :)**

_- Ramin Djawadi: "You'll Be Queen One Day" (Game of Thrones)_

* * *

**20. Sunset**

The fortress was quite impressive, and much larger and different from the border post Minato had once lived at. Not only was it tall and well built, but the people who lived inside the walls were genuinely happy. There didn't seem to be any poverty; the only difference noticeable was the lord and a few of his high-ranked men, who wore strong colors. In a matter of minutes, Rin, Obito and Kakashi had been approached by several orphans, and had disappeared inside the orphanage; Minato wasn't particularly worried about this, but marked Obito before they were dragged away.

They were shown to their rooms. The general and Minato had small rooms of their own, while Kushina was sharing with Rin, and Obito was sharing with Kakashi (Minato had to remember to check that they didn't destroy the whole room in a fight). They had soft beds with thick quilts and blankets, lit fireplaces and cozy furniture.

Minato closed the door behind him, took a shower and rummaged in his bag for clean clothes. He pulled out a fresh pair of sweatpants and a new singlet, and had just pulled on the pants when the door burst open and a grumpy Kushina strolled in. She looked so annoyed that she might not have noticed that he stood there shirtless, but threw herself down on the bed, facing the roof.

"Who does that girl think she is?" she asked the roof, quite irritatedly.

Minato knew who she meant, and grinned.

"What?" he said, pulling the singlet over his head. "Is it that bad to be accused of being my girlfriend?"

Kushina glared at him for a moment, then couldn't hold it back – she giggled.

"Well, not really," she admitted; not the answer Minato had expected at all, but she continued speaking before he could say more. "But really, who is she to attack anyone who's not part of the fight? Isn't that just cowardly?"

"Well, you heard her reasons," Minato said, lying down on the bed and staring at the roof as well. It wasn't that interesting.

"Hey, are you taking her side?" Kushina asked warningly.

"Frankly, I thought she was after you because of the Kyuubi," Minato said. "The other reason's a bit better, don't you think?"

"Well, if you put it _that _way," Kushina snorted. "You know, I think I agree with her."

Minato was so surprised of this sudden twist that he sat up and glared at her.

"You know," she said, glaring back. "About the part where she wanted to find out how we protect each other. See, shinobi are either cold and living their lives as soldiers and weapons, or, they have people they are fond of, and live for them."

Minato had never heard Kushina describe something that well (unless you count her restless attempts to let him know that he looked like a flake).

"I think she was trying to find out if we were worth trusting," Kushina continued. "And not only that, but that she doesn't want to relate to heartless people. You know, she might have been an unfair cow in the beginning, but I respect her, really."

She turned on her stomach and looked at him, smiling. Minato blinked.

"You were mad half a minute ago, what happened?" he asked and received a poke to the ribs. "Also, sorry for calling you a weapon earlier. I know you hate it."

But Kushina just waved it off with a smile.

They were spending the next few days at the fortress, where the lord showed them how it was built and Naru showed them how her snowmen worked. Rin, Obito and even Kakashi had discovered the fun of snowmen and had spent hours making their own immobile soldiers – which Naru managed to give life to – and Minato, the general and Kushina spent most of the day meeting new people and talking about everything from strategies to food. Kushina had also, to Minato's amusement, become good friends with Naru, but when the two girls had retired to her bedroom, Minato couldn't help but think that she was no doubt going to ask Kushina about their relationship.

He was close to giving in to temptation and eavesdrop at the door, but came to the conclusion that if he was caught, he'd receive damage worse than the thousand assassins he had faced almost a year ago.

Although they were staying there for some days and were on a B-ranked mission, there was little to do. They were already at peace with the snowy country and their people, and had even made good friends with many of them. It was the perfect place to celebrate Rin's tenth birthday, too; the chef made a delicious cake, and she had made so good friends with the orphans that she was drowned in congratulations and birthday cards. They had already been informed that the country was not taking part of any war, but if they were nearby and saw that Konoha was in trouble, they would not hesitate to aid them in any way they could. Minato had no doubt they would; even as a peaceful country, its soldiers were well disciplined and strong, both physically and mentally.

So Minato approached Kushina one day and suggested they continued the work on her seal. They had, after all, gone on this mission the day after he had succeeded in making a usable compression seal, but it was not perfect yet. He needed every detail of her seal to get it right, and he needed her help as well, because he was not that familiar with the Eight Trigrams Seal on her stomach.

They had worked on the seal every day in her bedroom, she lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, he trying to memorize every part of the complicated seal on her stomach and drawing down improvements of the compression seal he had made. The first day had been rather awkward, but Kushina now seemed so used to it, and comfortable with it, that she easily fell asleep in front of the warm fire.

"Kushina, you're doing it again. Wake up."

"What?" Kushina said drowsily. "Oh, sorry."

She activated her chakra again, and the seal reappeared at her stomach.

"This just makes me so – so -" she yawned widely, "- sleepy."

"I'm nearly there," he said. "Try to mix the Kyuubi's chakra again."

She did, concentrating hard, drawing more and more of it, and when he noticed that she was losing control, he made the necessary seals and placed his hand on her stomach.

The chakra stream died away immediately.

"It's done," Minato smiled. "Can't get any better than this."

"I could feel it," Kushina said and sat up. "It was like an immediate barrier. How come you're so good at fuuinjutsu?"

"I had a good teacher," he smiled as he dragged his bag closer and rummaged in a pocket. While Kushina observed him in an admiring way (he didn't notice), he drew out a sheet of paper, similar to the ones he had around his Hiraishin kunai, but smaller. Repeating the hand seals, he transferred the compression seal on to the piece of paper and held it up to Kushina.

"I can place this at your forehead or anywhere else, and it'll work the same way," he explained. "Much quicker, and safer when you're training."

"It's great," Kushina said, taking the piece of paper and examining the seal. "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied and got up.

"You're leaving?"

"Gotta get packed."

"Oh, right."

There was something close to disappointment in her voice, but Minato didn't question her about it.

* * *

They left the day after, and the trip home took longer time than the trip to the snowy country. They had decided to go ashore on a different spot, somewhere without people, so they could get home unnoticed again. They managed to pass the villages without trouble; it proved to be a lot easier to be unseen when you knew where your enemies where, and two and a half weeks later, they neared the front gate of Konoha.

"It's gonna be good to get home," Kushina said, stretching. "All this traveling has made me really stiff. Hey -" she looked somewhere between the trees, stopping, "Look over there."

Minato joined her. A short distance away, there was a small house. It looked abandoned; the windows were shattered and the wooden walls were rotting away – no doubt an old, forgotten house.

"How come no one's done anything about it?" Kushina asked.

"This isn't a traditional path to take," Minato said. "Not a lot of people walk here. Maybe no one's noticed it until now."

"Let's check it out," Kushina said, looking like a child who had discovered a secret passage.

"You can do so tomorrow," the general said. "I'm sure the Hokage would like to hear what we have to say."

A little disappointed, Kushina turned and joined the others in walking back. Soon, they walked through the large gate of Konoha, registered their arrival and headed for the Hokage Tower. The third smiled as he saw them enter.

"Ah!" he said. "You're back. How was your trip?"

"It was good," the general said. "They are trustworthy people, and we connected well. We have discussed strategies as much as it could be done, as they don't want to take any part of the war ..."

"Of course," the third said. "But at least we have made some foreign friends. Congratulations, team nine, on your first B-ranked mission. It was a success, as I can tell."

Rin and Obito beamed, and Minato thanked him.

After telling the Hokage in detail the outcome of the trip, the Hokage wanted to discuss darker matters.

"I received your letter about the abandoned villages," he said. "Did you investigate any more?"

"Yes," general Hiromu said. "The chef on the ship could inform us that the villagers fled to larger towns for help. Apparently, someone unknown has been taking their children."

This was alarming news to the Hokage.

"Was this the case for only the Earth Country, or has it happened elsewhere?"

"I'm not sure," the general replied seriously. "When we passed the country of the Grass Village, we met no one. Neither did we pass any villages, but it was unusually quiet."

"They're sticking together, no doubt," the third said thoughtfully. "We'll be on the alert. You may leave, if there's nothing else."

The general nodded, and they made to leave.

"Hold on, Minato."

Minato turned.

"I have a mission for you," the Hokage said, handing him a scroll. "You're to join two of my ANBU to retrieve something for me. They return from missions tomorrow."

"All right," Minato said, ignoring the curious glares from his little soldiers, who wanted to read the content of the scroll.

They left the Hokage Tower. Despite the fact that the winter had finally come to Konoha as well, fifteen degrees at night seemed more merciful than the forty degrees colder country they had been in two weeks ago.

On the afternoon the day after, Minato met one of the ANBU on his way to Kushina's, who told him they were leaving for the mission in an hour and a half. After telling the ANBU he would most likely be at the North-East track five minutes from the front gate, he finished the few meters left to Kushina's apartment and knocked on her door. They headed out to the abandoned house they had seen the day before.

"Wow, this thing's really old," Kushina said as she removed the rotted door from the entrance – it was not stuck to its hinges – and walked inside. It looked like an old workshop. It was mostly empty, but it looked as though small plants had begun to adapt to the rotting wood and had crept in from the windows. Broken furniture and tools were placed at random.

"No one's used this for a while," Minato said.

"D'you think someone owns it?" Kushina asked.

"Doubt it, why?"

"Wouldn't be that hard to fix up," she shrugged.

"You know what," he said. "That's not a bad idea. I have more weapons than Jiraiya's house can hold."

"Just a bit unpractical to have a weapon storage outside the village," Kushina pointed out.

"Nah, I'd just take a shortcut," he said and placed a seal on one of the old walls. It smoldered away in pieces. "You know, once it's fixed up."

Kushina chuckled.

"It just needs some -" she said and brushed off a thick layer of dust from a table, "- cleaning."

It didn't take long to go through the whole workshop, as it was only one room. They began to throw useless things out the window (almost everything), and after a while, they opened a large chest placed on a table and searched its contents. It held everything from hammers and nails to books.

"I have a question for you," Kushina said, picking up a weird tool and examining it.

"Fire away," Minato said, flipping through a dusty book.

"Remember what you told me, ages ago?" she asked, keeping her eyes determinedly on the tool. "You know, when you left for a mission. You told me a secret."

"I remember, yeah," Minato answered, wondering what came next. She hadn't mentioned the subject once since she had told her.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Well," Minato began. "I didn't think you liked me back. Remember how you used to hate me?"

"I didn't _hate _you," Kushina said, finally looking at him. "I just ..."

"Didn't care?" Minato helped with a grin. Kushina gave him a look of resignation. "But why, should I have told you?"

Kushina shrugged. "Could've helped."

"Helped?" Minato repeated.

"You know, when you left to the border, I thought I was going to lose you."

"What d'you mean?" Minato asked genuinely confused - after all, Kushina had viewed him as close to immortal - and received a look that said he probably should have known already.

"Not by death, stupid," Kushina replied.

Minato could not believe it.

"You were afraid I'd forget about you?" he asked.

"Yes," was the simple answer he got.

"No," Minato said disagreeably. «During those five years, I missed you like mad.»

"Five years is enough to forget a lot about people, too," Kushina reminded him, though she beamed at him.

"But I promised you I wouldn't."

At this, he did not get an immediate reply. Kushina stared at him for a moment that seemed rather long; had she not trusted him to keep his promise?

Minato grinned and shut the book. "You still don't take me seriously."

"Try me," Kushina said cockily back.

She might have just blurted it out by accident, without seeing the whole wide world of opportunities Minato began to see. In the dimmed light of the last streaks of sun playing through the dusty, dirty windows of the old workshop, Kushina's eyes seemed a warmer shade of violet than ever. Standing so close to her, he could see every strand of her hair flowing in gold in the gentle breeze coming through the gaps where doors and windows had once been; automatically, he reached out and let his fingers glide through the red strands, thinking only of how much silkier it would have felt against his hand had he not worn his fingerless gloves. A blush developed on Kushina's cheeks, but Minato felt rather unnerved by the situation. He smiled.

"You're blushing."

He was not surprised when he didn't get an answer to that either, though he thanked whatever gods out there for not getting a fist slammed in his stomach for pointing out something he believed she thought of as highly embarrassing.

Even when an ANBU showed up at the removed door behind him and spoke, Minato didn't take his eyes off her.

"Minato-san, we're moving," the ANBU said; no doubt masked with a bear's face. Minato remembered his voice from earlier.

"I'll be there in a moment," he replied, at which the ANBU left the doorstep.

He had made up his mind. He was done pretending.

"I never told you the whole truth," he said, blue eyes looking deeply into violet ones. "I never stopped liking you."

With a last, warm smile at the speechless girl in front of him, he threw the book back in the chest, turned and walked away.


	21. Stung (More than Once)

_- Ramin Djawadi: "Love in the Eyes" (Game of Thrones)_

* * *

**21. Stung (More than Once)**

_«We have lost two scrolls of forbidden jutsu. Sources tell us they were taken to the Sand. Retrieve them whole and bring them back to me._

_P.S. Minato, watch out for Hanzou. He is still after you."_

Minato shut the scroll and stuffed the rest of his rations in his mouth. Retrieving a scroll of such meaning from the enemies were classified as a 'highly dangerous mission requiring ANBU'. And Minato, it seemed.

Hadn't Minato spent five years at the border and been assigned a team, he would have probably been offered a spot among the ANBU. And even though the mission demanded such ranks and most ANBU probably would have gotten their hands on the scrolls as easily as him, he was without doubt the best equipped to get the hell out of there.

He could probably even have done the mission alone, but he needed decoys.

The ANBU had gone ahead as he sat outside Suna, waiting for the bear-masked ANBU to throw one of his kunai to let him know it was his turn to act. The plan went as such: the two ANBU were to find the location of the two scrolls, but seeing as they were likely to have such security that removing them from their spots would alert Suna, they were to drop the kunai nearby, draw the guards away from the location, retreat and let him do the rest.

His only problem with the plan was that waiting for the signal gave him too much time to kill, and he had nothing else to do than to hide and reread the scroll containing mission details over and over again.

And, of course, contemplating how Hanzou was going to get him next. He had so far come up with a few good ideas, but he didn't plan on telling him any time soon.

He had been sitting there for a good forty-five minutes when he felt the kunai's alert, and feeling that it was _about damn time_, he disappeared from behind the rock he sat by and appeared in a narrow hallway by the doorstep of a small, dark, sand-colored room. It was dimly lit by openings in the tall roof, shining down upon two large scrolls that lay on a table of sandstone.

He could sense the ANBU retreating nearby, as well as the guards walking away, and deciding to wait until they were a good distance away, he instead tried to analyze the security measures taken to keep the scrolls where they were. He knew even before he sensed it that a barrier had been placed by the doorstep, making him vulnerable as soon as he stepped inside the room; plus, as soon as he lay hands on the scrolls or removed them, he would alert the guards placed around the building he was in, and they would appear within the room not long after the sin of retrieving the lost scrolls were begun.

The only thing he couldn't quite figure out was the countless, small holes in the ground. He was sure something would turn up from them if he neared them; maybe some sort of desert animal?

No matter who he alerted first - Suna, the guards or the animals – he had to be quick.

Deciding to take a big leap instead of running across the ground, and therefore running across the holes, he backed off a few meters, and rechecking that the ANBU were well on their way out of the village, he kicked off and ran; breaking the barrier, he jumped from the doorstep and landed with good precision on top of the scrolls, and the last thing he heard after getting a grip around the two scrolls were an alarm being set off.

He was quite pleased with turning up inside the cool shades of one of the Wind's very few forests, far enough away from Suna to get caught.

However, he had not expected the sharp pain he suddenly felt piercing his arm.

Looking down at the scrolls he held, he saw a small scorpion dangling from his right arm. Without hesitating, he grabbed his kunai and stabbed it against the warm earth; it released his arm and stopped moving.

He had not taken into account that there might be holes underneath the scrolls as well. The pain had subsided, but his head was swimming and his eyesight became blurred.

_Well, fuck._

* * *

So maybe he had mostly gone on missions by himself. Maybe he had come out of situations all right, unhurt and with the message 'mission complete'. Maybe he had known he was skilled enough to do so.

This was probably the last time Minato was proud enough to think he was guaranteed to complete one by himself.

He was lying in a hospital bed, feeling something cool against his aching, hot forehead. Someone had placed a cold towel on it. He had to remember to thank this person later for making his night better, but was at the moment too busy not having the energy to open his eyes, spending the remaining on cursing at himself for not thinking of any hidden scorpion holes. Plus, he wasn't in the mood for speaking to anyone, seeing as he was currently in the danger of losing the ability to use his right arm and leg.

They had luckily planned where their meeting place would be after Minato had retrieved the scrolls, and he was lucky the ANBU found him before any shinobi of Suna did. He had then been barely awake but feeling quite ill – more like he was dying, maybe – and they hadn't needed an explanation to know that Minato had been stung by something poisonous. The dead scorpion and the fact that he couldn't move or talk had been enough.

Having hurried back to the Fire Country, they were able to stop at the border and have most of the poison removed from his body. And so they begun the day-long journey back to Konoha, supporting a Minato who had never felt worse. He had a bad fever, he couldn't use his right arm and could barely walk on his right leg. He needed a proper antidote (his bag containing the poison in a jar), and he could only think of one person who was able to make one.

It was therefore quite a disappointment to hear that the only one able to heal him was out on a mission.

The third had sent him to the hospital ten seconds after they had entered the door to his office. Minato's life was no longer in danger, but he could barely stand. Apparently, his only savior (of course, he was not going to die, but he would prefer to be able to use his arm and leg) was on her way back, so he had to stay the night with a fever, a heavy head and something he imagined couldn't be so far from a dead body at the hospital. It was not hard to fall asleep, but he kept waking up. He vaguely remembered waking up by someone replacing the towel on his forehead with a cold one and hearing someone apologize before he dozed off again, but other than that, he had no idea why he constantly woke up. Maybe it was his body fighting against the remaining poison, not caring about the difference between 'alive' and 'awake'.

The only time he was happy to be woken up, was when he heard the door burst open and saw Tsunade enter the hospital room.

* * *

Shikaku lay an Ace on the pile of cards on the edge of Minato's hospital bed.

Grumbling, Minato brought in the deck of cards with his healthy hand. He usually won at these games, but there was no denying it; Shikaku was a level higher in intelligence. Even Kakashi seemed dangerously good at this.

"By the way, I saw Kushina leave the hospital earlier," Shikaku mentioned.

"She did?" Minato said in surprise.

"What, she didn't come by to visit you?"

There was no denying that hearing this news stung worse than the scorpion, either. Minato had been awake for half a day, the poison leaving his body and the fever gone, but he still had problems using the right side of his body. He had expected Kushina to visit – especially after hearing that she was on a break from missions – but maybe the fact that she didn't was his own fault.

"Did something happen to you two?" Rin asked gently as he started up a new round by placing three fours on the sheets.

"I think she's avoiding me," Minato said, and explained that he had confessed his feelings towards Kushina. Somehow, he felt like he could trust his little soldiers in not telling him off; they had after all confronted him about it several times, but never told Kushina a thing.

"What did you say to her?" Shikaku asked.

"I didn't exactly just say it," he began, but found it hard to describe exactly what he had done.

"Are you sure she realized?"

"Anyone with brains would realize," Minato said. Then, more to himself than to the others, he said, "Maybe it was a stupid thing to do ..."

"So what did you do?" Shikaku asked.

"I touched her hair."

As the seconds passed, Minato realized just how stupid that sounded.

"You touched her hair."

"In a bit more affectionate way than usual."

"So you often touch her hair?"

"No."

"Then she probably knows."

"Yeah. That's what I thought."

A few seconds passed again, in which Minato triumphed with three Kings.

"What did she say?" Shikaku asked after beating him with Aces once more.

"Nothing," Minato replied with a sigh. "I told her I liked her, I had to leave, and now she's avoiding me."

"Girls are difficult."

"You don't say?"

Even when Minato was finally able to limp around outside the hospital a few days later, Kushina seemed to avoid being alone with him. She had in a most awkward tone asked him how he was doing when he bumped into her and Mikoto as he was walking with his team, but had quickly made an excuse and dragged Mikoto off with her.

"It was definitely a stupid thing to do," Minato sighed, at which all three of his team nodded in agreement.

It seemed that he had indeed made Kushina start taking him seriously, but he did not feel good about it.

And as the end of December neared, day by day, he made a New Years resolution: no matter how beaten up he would become, he was going to make her talk to him.

* * *

**Chapter 22 will hopefully be published in two days!**


	22. Mission: New Years

**Here's the next chapter, just one day late! I've been a racer with updates lately, but this will be the last for this week. Dunno when I'll post chapter 23, because I have exams until next weekend, and then I'm off for a short vacation.**

**But thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

* * *

**22. Mission: New Years**

If there was one thing to be said about Kushina's general behavior towards people, it was that she was more a woman of action rather than words. If she felt the urge to let out her mood on Minato, she had expressed them through smiles, glooms, hits, kicks, hugs and silence.

She had spent the past few weeks expressing her difficulty and awkwardness of the situation by avoiding him completely.

For comfort, Minato had been invited to the usual Ino-Shika-Chou barbeque night. However, the good-feeling of hanging out with undramatic guys sunk a little as soon as Inoichi remembered that Minato and Kushina had become a bit too good friends – at least in his eyes.

It was hard enough to discuss the situation once more with two more (drunken) guys, but it was worse to discuss it with someone who had recently had high, maybe a bit too superficial feelings for the same girl. In the end, though, Minato found it quite amusing, even though he felt like slamming a fist in Inoichi's face when he pointed out that they had both failed. Instead, Minato pointed out that he hadn't been directly rejected, he just hadn't gotten an answer yet.

Not that he had asked her anything, but a hint would've been helpful.

Luckily for Minato, he had been too occupied talking, so Inoichi had not had the chance to refill his sake cup more than five times; it was enough, however. When they had paid their bill and left the barbeque, they walked down the main street of Konoha, in the direction of a place where they could relax their full bodies and light-headed minds with a bottle of beer. Minato made a mental note to order a glass of water instead, but was in a much too good mood to remember.

* * *

By the time New Years arrived, several things had changed. The most noticeable one was how the streets of Konoha had gone from busy and normal, filled with people out on errands, to streets of shining, red lights, girls dressed in beautiful kimonos and a slightly higher level of drunken people than usual.

Minato, however, was still limping a bit from the poison, and had decided to leave the alcohol on the shelf that night. But he had made an effort in dressing nicely, and had put on a pair of black pants and a clean, white shirt.

Had he thought about New Years before, he'd imagined he'd meet Kushina by the bridge, walk to the center of the city and find a good spot to view the fireworks, though it was a bit difficult to plan such events when said girl hadn't spoken to him for the past few weeks. So he met up with Shikaku and Kousuke and walked towards the city center, a relaxed atmosphere hanging above them. He kept one eye on the lookout for Kushina, thinking about the mission he had hired himself to complete: to walk up to her (of course in a most confident way), look her in the eyes, smile if she did the same and somehow talk to her in private.

The last part was definitely going to be the most difficult one.

He met Mikoto on the way, deciding it was best to start off the mission by information-gathering.

"Hey, Mikoto," he greeted her with a smile after excusing himself and falling behind to let her and her husband catch up.

"Oh, hello, Minato," she smiled back. "Feeling better?"

"Much better," he replied. "Where's Itachi?"

"A cousin is looking after him. Don't think he'd find the fireworks as pretty as we do."

They chatted casually for a moment before Minato began digging for answers.

"Have you spoken to Kushina lately?" he asked, keeping his voice calm and only mildly interested. Maybe Mikoto's shinobi traits had begun to leave her, because he thought he saw her flinch a little and her face making a sort of smile; but it was gone after a second, and she replied.

"Met her earlier today, yes."

So Kushina had obviously talked to Mikoto about what happened at the old workshop outside the village; likely because it bothered her in some way.

"Is she coming to the city tonight?" he then asked.

"She said something about meeting Tsume and Rabi near Ichiraku's," Mikoto said.

Jackpot. He now knew both the location of the girl and who she was meeting, a good base for bumping into her sometime during the night.

However, he found it a bit over the top to question Mikoto too far about Kushina and her plans, so he told the married couple he was heading off with Shikaku and Kousuke, and made to leave.

"By the way," he said before leaving. "Do me a favor and don't tell Kushina I'm looking for her, all right?"

Mikoto looked at him in an uncomfortably curious way, with something like a smirk playing on her face, but she nodded; all Minato wanted to know.

Catching up with Shikaku and Kousuke again, they headed off the main street. It was about half an hour til midnight, so they had all the time in the world to find a good spot for firework-viewing. They met Inoichi and Chouza by the barbeque – the perfect place to stand and watch out for Kushina's arrival, as Ichiraku's was nearby. He saw Tsume and Rabi standing by the ramen bar, chatting, and only kept half of his attention on the conversation going on in the group of boys. The only flaw in the mission was that several girls from his Academy class, affected by alcohol and dressed up in kimonos in various colors, found the courage to walk up to him and ask if he wouldn't come and see the fireworks with them; making up the excuse that he already had plans, he managed to shake them off.

A quarter to midnight, Minato decided it was time to see if he could sense her anywhere near; maybe she had spotted him and hidden, but he wasn't going to allow her to do that.

Therefore he almost jumped of surprise when he sharpened his senses and found her three meters behind him.

He didn't turn around at first, thinking it would scare her away like a baby deer; but apparently, it wasn't Ichiraku's she was heading for, but him.

"Minato, can I talk to you?" he heard her ask.

Well, that was certainly a surprising twist in his plans.

He turned around; she stood there, beautiful as ever and more elegant with her kimono and the hair that no doubt Mikoto had nicely done, looking up at him with a face so full of self-restraint that he thought she was going to turn on the spot and run away if he did one wrong move.

"Sure," he smiled – she had after all looked him in the eyes – and tried not to stare too intently at her. Leaving the others behind (Inoichi with an expression between jealousy and a grin), they walked down the street. He wondered where she was taking him.

"You look nice," he said, at which Kushina smiled and blushed – he had no idea how much more difficult he was making the situation for her. Though so far everything was going according to plan: he had found her, she had looked him in the eyes, and he now had the best opportunity to talk to her privately.

They stopped at a small, nicely made platform, where people stood and waited for the fireworks to begin. They walked over to the edge, and Minato sat down on the stonewall around it. She leaned against it, her shoulder almost brushing against his.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Minato asked, though he thought he knew.

"Well, how do I start," Kushina said, staring out at the night sky behind him. "I've just had this issue lately, and I don't know what to do with it."

"All right," Minato said, almost chuckling, but rather nervous of the outcome of the conversation. "How can I help with that?"

Kushina sighed, but kept her eyes firmly on the stars.

"I just don't know how to put it," she said.

"Well, then, show me," he said. He had figured out long ago that Kushina found it easier to show him the problem rather than telling it.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it's difficult."

"Try."

Minato braced himself for a slap in the face, something that would tell him to stop messing around, and the longer she stood there staring at the sky, the more nervous he became.

Kushina turned her head and gazed behind them, where a few kimono-clad girls stood glaring at them, whispering rapidly and shooting her dark looks.

"All right," she said, determination audible in her voice. The second after she had said that, fireworks were shot from the ground some distance away, making a spectacular view in the already magnificent night sky.

"Happy new year," Minato said, looking up at the fireworks.

He froze when he felt a warm hand touching his left cheek.

Looking down again, he saw Kushina's face, her eyes staring into his, she was so close that he could hear her nervous breathing, and she closed her eyes, leaned in -

Kushina was not a woman who usually spoke through words. This was, however, the first time she had expressed her feelings by kissing him.

* * *

Minato was still in a state of the most wonderful shock. He was holding around Kushina, and only moments ago had they broken a long, slow kiss; usually he would take any nearby people into consideration when a situation of personal matters came into view, but now he simply didn't care. Heck, it was new years, girls around them were glaring with fallen jaws as their generations most admired man had finally shown his true feelings for the one girl they had seen as their worst opponent in the battle of the sunny boy, and they couldn't even blame it on alcohol.

Because apparently, Kushina had been on a mission too, so she had left the alcohol alone so that she wouldn't overdo it when talking to him. Though Minato didn't know about this.

Kushina was leaning against his shoulder, he rested his head against hers and looked back up at the colored sky.

"I had no idea," he said.

"I know, I'm good at hiding things," Kushina said, somewhat apologetically. "I'm sorry I've avoided you."

"We're square," Minato grinned sheepishly.

"Remember the day you rescued me? You know, the day we became friends?"

"Yeah?"

"I've liked you since then."

A moment passed in which Minato took in those words; then he looked down at Kushina, who looked up at him most mischeviously.

"You what?" he said incredulously. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kushina removed herself from his shoulder and smirked.

"I didn't know if you liked me back," she said. _Ouch_. "And then you went away for five years, and then you came back and -"

"Kushina, everyone knew I liked you," Minato said. "Maybe not before the war but at least after."

"Okay, so maybe I knew," Kushina corrected herself. "You weren't hard to read. But it – I just -"

But her words got stuck somewhere, so she just looked him in the eyes with an expression that was difficult to read.

"You're my best friend, I thought it would mess things up," she finally said.

"I almost did, didn't I?" Minato asked.

"Nah," Kushina grinned. "You couldn't get rid of me even if you wanted to."

"Never dreamed of it," Minato smiled, placed his hand underneath her chin, lifting her head up, and kissed her again.

That had initially been his plan in the old workshop, but he had never gotten so far.

They had walked slowly home much later, being the last to leave the platform, and was sitting on the rooftop of Jiraiya's house. Minato was not sure if the shock had left him yet, but his head was filled with feelings and questions; he felt unbelievably happy, somewhat relieved and very confused. Plus, he had not long ago found out that despite Kushina's sometimes short-tempered, restless and impatient nature, she was a good kisser; slow, steady and soft.

"So," Minato began; he had a million things to say and a billion questions, and had to start somewhere. "Why me? I mean, you said the day I rescued you … I can't remember you showing much affection for me before that."

Kushina, who sitting in front of him, leaning against his torso, looked up at his curious face.

"I was a bit blind, though, wasn't I," she replied. "I had just decided that you were a weak wimp, but you proved me wrong. You completely changed my view of you that day."

"Oh, did I," Minato grinned and earned a sharp poke to the ribs.

"So why me?" Kushina challenged. "When did you start to feel any affection for me?"

Minato, feeling slightly embarrassed, scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, ever since the day you walked into the classroom on our first day at the Academy," he said, watching how her eyes widened. "I remember I just thought your hair was pretty at first, but when you beat up those boys I think I both admired you and was scared shitless. I was at least pretty certain I liked you in some way and tried to speak to you. That failed, though."

"Why, because I was the only one who dared to state the obvious?"

Minato looked at her with narrowed, suspicious eyes, unsure whether or not he should ask what she meant.

"Depends on what you mean by _obvious_," he cleverly said.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" she replied. "The obvious means I was the only one who saw you for who you truly were."

"What, a weak flake?"

Kushina only grinned.


	23. Spar with a Rule

_- Hans Zimmer: "Jack Sparrow" (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)_

* * *

**23. Spar with a Rule**

"That's cheating."

"Huh?"

"Technically, it is."

"And where do you find the logic in that?"

Minato observed the frowning girl with amusement as she examined the scrolls he once had studied containing the structure and purpose of the Hiraishin. She had at first complained that he was showing better potential of becoming a seal user than she – an Uzumaki – was, and had demanded to see his scrolls of the Hiraishin to see if she couldn't do it was well.

Now, she had apparently found something else to complain about.

"This technique is designed so that you won't have to use natural speed to get anywhere or flee," Kushina said. "Plus, if you use it cleverly enough, it'll be impossible for enemies to catch you. It's basically a cheap trick. You're cheating."

"And just defying the concept of time and space and using it as a base for other techniques, but I guess that's beside the point, right?" Minato said, leaning against the couch. Kushina turned her head to give him a look that confirmed so clearly that, yes, that's _completely _beside the point.

"I'd like to see you try fighting without the Hiraishin," Kushina smirked.

And just like that (because Kushina was very insistent and Minato very easily persuaded) Minato found himself forced to accept the challenge.

* * *

All it took was for him to stumble. Kushina growled as she realized that it was not due to her cleverness, but because she had for a fraction of a second managed to confuse him by accident, making him turn just as she cracked the ground open behind him, making the ground shake. He cursed as he stepped backwards, able to channel his chakra to his feet but unable to prevent walking out on the water Kushina was so skilled in controlling.

She had taken her chance quickly; she had after all spent ages trying to lure him out there where she had the advantage. Because despite the fact that he was not allowed to use the Hiraishin technique, he was annoyingly fast, and sparring against Minato was synonymous with battling an intelligent brain with legs.

When it came to strength, Kushina was proud to say she had the most explosive techniques. She wasn't dumb either, and she had her quite frightening sealing techniques and a most magnificent control of chakra, but she had to admit that it was only just that she had not lost yet. She had actually not won any of their spars for many, many years, and she had always thought that the Hiraishin technique had much to do with it.

He was proving her wrong, and she didn't like it.

The Kage Bunshin that had cracked the ground open disappeared, and the real Kushina, standing some feet away on the surface of the water, shot chakra chains up from beneath the water, hoping to catch him – he jumped backwards, but her chains were as unpredictable as she was – as more chains appeared behind him, fastening around his arms and finally locking his legs.

She made the necessary hand seals and crouched. The stream increased in strength underneath them and a large wave erupted from beside Minato – who gazed at the wave rising higher and higher above him with an expression that could mean nothing more than _well, fuck._

"Kushina … ?" he asked uncertainly, but was suddenly surrounded by cold water and was dragged underneath the surface.

Lucky for him, he knew how to blast the chakra chains away.

He could only picture the look on the girl's face as she saw the loose, flowing chains and realized he had escaped; but she had no time to react before he appeared from beneath, knocking her out of balance.

She backed off, stepping up back on safe land as he attacked her, and he knew of her plan by the determined look on her face; she clenched her fist, channeled her chakra and gave him the punch of the year -

"Dead."

Kushina froze at the ice cold kunai resting against her throat. The badly punched Minato had disappeared in a puff of smoke; she had not realized it was a bunshin.

He could basically hear her teeth clench as she straightened up and turned her head to look at his – what, mild face? - and she wondered how much different he would look if he ever caught a real enemy the same way.

"Point taken," she grumbled, pushing the kunai away. "You owe me ramen."

"Can I at least get changed first?" he asked, stroking wet strands of hair away from his face; his clothes were dripping wet, the air was chilly and he was starting to get cold, yet Kushina didn't seem to grant him much mercy and dragged him in the direction of Ichiraku's without an answer.

* * *

**Sorry, this is all I get to write! I'm about finished with my exams - handing the last one in by tomorrow - and I'm so exhausted from revising and taking notes that I just want to shut my brains off.**

**Leaving for a short vacation soon too, so expect the next update to be in the beginning of June :)**

**Hope your exams went well!**


	24. Contagious Tragic

**I can only write as much as I do right now, but hopefully I'll be able to update a bit more frequently with chapters short as this. Summer holidays doesn't mean you're not busy ... :P**

* * *

**24. Contagious Tragic**

The sun was rising, peeking through the leaves surrounding the porch house in the outskirts of the city center of Konoha. A light breeze hit the walls around the corners, but it wasn't cold; the winter in Konoha reached its coldest at fifteen degrees, making the mornings a good time to cool down. One man had always been a morning person, getting up earlier than most and spending the mornings reading outside (as long as the weather provided good conditions for books), making early training sessions on the deserted training fields or simply taking a walk.

The first streaks of red sunlight hit Minato in the face as his eyes wandered the page of a book he had found in Jiraiya's old bookshelf. He enjoyed it so far, but it wasn't the same as reading Jiraiya's idiotic novels; in those, he could relate both himself and his sensei to the characters, making it more of an interesting read.

He heard footsteps enter through the front door, but was already aware of who it was, having sensed her as she approached the house. He expected her to disappear upstairs to take a shower and then dump straight down on his unmade bed, locking him outside his own bedroom, but as the footsteps shuffled closer, he turned around and found a tired, yawning girl with stained clothes and red strands of mess on top of her head.

She had been kicked out of her own apartment because the landlady needed it back, and was currently joining Minato in freeloading on Jiraiya's house. Having only been dating for about a month, it sounded far too early to move in together, but the truth was that they barely saw each other in that house at the same time; Minato had only offered her his bed because he had gone for a few days' worth of missions, and had to spend one night on the couch before Kushina headed off for Suna for a week.

Minato would usually protest on the kiss Kushina gave him due to her stained, muddy attire, but was far too happy to see her to do so.

"You're up early," Kushina said and stifled a yawn while dumping down on the lawn chair opposite him.

"Meeting the Hokage in a bit," Minato said, turning a page and only paying half his attention to it. "How was the mission?"

"A big mess," Kushina said, pointing at herself for reference. Minato grinned. "It was raining the whole time. Made it impossible to track anyone, so we had to change the whole plan. Made it in the end, though."

"'Course you did," Minato smiled; Kushina had a habit of refusing to give up. She smiled drowsily back and leaned back on the chair, making herself comfortable; half a minute later, her eyes were closed and her breath sounded deeper.

Minato enjoyed the presence of the red-haired sleeping girl in the morning sun.

* * *

After having carried his impossible-to-wake-up girlfriend to the bed, Minato transported himself to the Hokage Tower. He had quite secretly placed a seal on one of the trees nearby recently, seeing as he went there frequently and not always with his team. A minute later he knocked on the Hokage's office door, hearing a clear "come in," and entered.

"Morning, Hokage-sama," Minato said as he approached the third.

"Minato-san," the third nodded; he looked serious. "I'm glad you're in the village. Konoha has been experiencing terrible happenings lately, and I need a few men on the case."

Minato nodded.

"It seems that the kidnapper in the Earth that you told us about has reached Konoha," the third continued, and Minato felt a cold sting in his stomach. "So far we have five victims."

"Are there any clues?" Minato asked.

"None. That's the worst part, we have no idea who did it and there's no telling where he went with the children."

Minato closed his eyes for two seconds. They were only _children_ ...

"I want you to place that excellent seal of yours several places around the village; the hospital, my office door, the village gates, the interrogation tower. All the places you find clues."

Minato nodded again. The reassuringly calm morning on the porch seemed ages away.

"I'm afraid I don't have much information to pass on to you, Minato. I have information about the children, but other than that, we start from scratch. I've put you, Tsunade, Orochimaru and Shikaku on the case so far. Try to speak to them while you're searching, they might have some clues. You're exempt from any other missions and missions with team nine. We need this kidnapper sorted out as soon as possible."

Minutes later, Minato left the Hokage Tower with files of the missing children in his hand. Four boys, one girl. All of them ten years old or less.

Minato had often felt sad, confused, worried and scared – at least for others' sake. But never had he felt as uneasy as now.


	25. Dignity

**25. Dignity**

A day had passed, in which Minato had gone through conversations with the families of the missing children. Minato had promised each of them he'd do whatever he could to catch the kidnapper and bring the children home – though he had been careful about promising what state they would be in.

Not because he didn't care, but because he'd be almost as torn apart as the victims' families if he couldn't keep a promise of bringing them back alive.

It was late, and he was examining every inch of the missing girl's crime scene for the tenth time. He had done the same with the places where the boys had been kidnapped, and had found little clues; mostly a chaos of footsteps, a few strands of hairs he had sent for DNA testing, but other than that, there was not much to find. The footsteps eventually led down a road and disappeared amongst footsteps of the other villagers, making it about impossible to make out the way the kidnapper had taken. He had hired Kakashi, who had recently discovered and trained his excellent sense of smelling, and although he had managed to separate the kidnapper, the children and other smells, he didn't have the nose to get much further than into the center of the town.

Minato had been surprised when Kakashi had led him to the town square, having been prepared to find a track that led to the forest or another rarely busy path towards the walls around Konoha. The fact that the kidnapper had managed to take the children – each of them – through the town square unnoticed only told Minato how skilled the person was.

"Try that path," Minato told Kakashi, pointing towards a dark alley. It was unlikely, seeing as it made a dead-end, but it was worth a try anyway.

Kakashi walked towards the alley, concentration clear on his face, but had to stop, turn around and shake his head.

Minato sighed.

"That's all the paths covered ..." he said thoughtfully, more to himself than to Kakashi. "I can see a few possibilities – some more likely than others – he may have done a space-time technique from here, confusing us and making it harder to see what his destination was, or he could have changed scents …"

"Or, he's just that good at covering his tracks," Kakashi shot in. Minato looked at him, having almost forgotten that he was there during his moment of contemplation.

"Also a possibility," he replied. "I should find the others, maybe they have clues that I don't."

While Kakashi headed off to do whatever, Minato started searching out Shikaku, Tsunade and Orochimaru. As he passed the barbeque, he met Shikaku on his way out.

"Shikaku, I was looking for you."

"Ah, Minato," Shikaku said. "How's the mission going?"

"Not too well," Minato admitted. "I tracked down the path the kidnapper had taken with each of the children. All of them led to the town square, but that's where the path ends."

"I see," Shikaku said. "Seems like a clever man. He probably went there to send us in the wrong direction and covered his path from there."

"That's what I thought," Minato said. "I just can't see how he's done it without being seen dragging a child along. The town square is usually pretty busy."

"Exactly. I've searched the walls, but I couldn't find anything there. Have you talked to Tsunade and Orochimaru?"

"Not yet, I was about to look for them."

"I'll join in."

They went to the hospital, hoping to see Tsunade somewhere nearby – after all, the hospital was quite low on staff and needed as much people as possible – but weren't surprised to find that Tsunade had been released from her duties at the hospital while the mission was still going.

"She was here a few hours ago," a medic-nin told them. "She went out of Konoha with Orochimaru to search the Grass Village for something."

"Probably for clues," Minato told Shikaku as they left the hospital. "We passed there on our way home from the North, they seemed to have the same problem."

"I guess the best thing we can do is to keep watch in the village," Shikaku said. "Searching for clues haven't gotten us many places, we should keep to pacing around, keeping an eye up for anything strange and talk to people. Especially the regular visitors and inhabitants of the town square. Until Tsunade and Orochimaru come back, we can at least make sure nothing goes unnoticed here."

"Good idea," Minato replied. "We'll take it in turns. I can keep watch tonight."

They had both been awake since before sunrise, but Minato had often spent long hours on watch on the border and was trained in keeping himself awake during an important task. Though he did start off his watch by following Shikaku home.

"I'd hoped there was mood for more talking," Shikaku sighed as he stared casually at the stars above them. "It was entertaining to discuss Inoichi's life of women, but he's drying up. I'm kinda more interested in hearing about you and Kushina, believe it or not."

Minato grinned. "There'll be time."

"Yeah," Shikaku replied and entered the small gate to his house. "Well, good luck on your watch."

"Thanks."

And for three whole days, they walked the village, spoke to the inhabitants.

Nothing happened.

* * *

"Oi, Minato."

"Hm?"

Minato was driven from his very longed-for nap earlier than he had hoped, but wasn't disappointed as he saw who had woken him up.

"Shikaku's looking for you," Kushina said and pulled him up. "C'mon, he said it was urgent."

"'Said what?" Minato said, letting himself being dragged up from the bench on Jirayia's porch but not quite awake yet.

"He said something about Tsunade and Orochimaru being back," Kushina said, leading him down a road.

Minato's heart skipped a beat. Maybe they had found something important, or even caught the kidnapper …

He found them in the Hokage's office – Shikaku, Orochimaru and Tsunade – and the third didn't hesitate to address him as he entered.

"Minato, good of you to join us so soon," he said, nodding shortly to Kushina as she slipped out of the doorway and closed the door behind her to not interrupt the conversation. Though Minato had a funny feeling she had no intentions of leaving the Hokage Tower yet.

He would've smiled of the fact that he could sense her pressed up against the door behind him, trying to eavesdrop, if the atmosphere in the room hadn't been so serious.

"Did you find any clues?" Minato asked, looking from Tsunade to Orochimaru.

"We found tracks," Tsunade said. "We followed them for a while. They led to the border between the Earth and the Grass. But as soon as we had found a potential hiding spot, we found clear tracks leading back to where we came from. We can't be at several places at once, so we need you to search the building we found."

The third pointed at an unnamed position on a map that was spread out on his office table.

"The building is located here," the third said. "They say the tracks were slightly more diffused here compared to the other paths, but we should still check it out. It's just on the other side of the border, on the Earth's side."

"I'll leave at once," Minato said, at which the third nodded. He turned, and as he closed in on the door, he heard hurried footsteps from the hall; leaving the office, he saw Kushina looking highly innocent a few steps away from the office.

"Sneak."

"You'd do the same," Kushina said, following him out of the tower.

"Nah," Minato smirked. "I have dignity."

Kushina raised an eyebrow. "And since when was eavesdropping not an option for shinobi?"

"Ever since the people you were eavesdropping on were not your enemies."

Kushina grabbed his arm to stop him. "I want to be useful too, you know."

Minato could hear just how sincerely she meant that, and knew the frustration she felt; her condition had kept her from doing missions she was otherwise skilled enough and had the rank to do.

"All right," Minato said, sneaking an arm around her waist and looking at her. "You can do something for me. You can take my watches with Shikaku while I'm gone and report anything you'd find to the Hokage. Deal?"

"Deal," Kushina smiled, stretched up and gave him a long, soft kiss. It was the first in what seemed weeks; the past few days he had spent on the lookout for kidnappers hadn't given them any time together.

Minato drew her close and kissed her below the ear.

"But first," he whispered, one hand firmly around her and another disappearing between silky strands of hair. "You can help me pack my bag."


	26. The Factory

**A short chapter again, but I've got the next few planned pretty well.**

**I also wrote the last chapter today. I don't think I'm halfway in this story yet, but the ending just came to me, so I had to write it.**

**Ever had that? You know, when you don't even know where you're going with the story, and the ending just pops up? :P**

* * *

**26. The Factory**

"Minato, hold on."

Minato turned as he was passing the gate of Konoha. General Hiromu came trotting towards him with a team of three young Chuunin.

"Hokage-sama sent us to communicate with you," the general said. "Also, this team will act as your back-up, in case anything happens."

"All right," Minato said, nodding to the Chuunin. They nodded back, but kept casting him glances every now and then as they spoke.

"So, what's the plan?" Minato asked. "Where are your locations?"

"Not far from yours," the general said. "It is safer for us to be on the Grass' side of the border, but there's an abandoned warehouse we can hide in. Here, take this."

He handed Minato two small devices connected by a thin wire; a black headset and a clip with a speaking device.

"It's probably easier for you to search the building on your own," the general said, at which Minato nodded. "I know you're capable of it, anyway. Let's go."

Turning again, they left the village and headed into the deep forests surrounding Konoha.

The Chuunin were around fourteen years old, and had recently been promoted. They were a team led by the general's brother; one girl, Haruka, who had strikingly purple eyes and dark hair; a boy named Kiri, with brown hair and the prominent marks of the Inuzuka Clan on his cheeks; and the last boy, Juukai, who looked extremely shy with the light blonde hair falling in front of his eyes.

Later, Minato would learn that Juukai was slightly more dangerous than he looked, but he didn't even try to underestimate him when they met. Minato had learned long ago that underestimating both your friends and foes could get you killed.

Tsunade and Orochimaru had left earlier, already on their separate paths to follow the rest of the tracks they hadn't checked out last time. For Minato, the general and his borrowed team, it took a day and a half to get to the border. They stopped by the border post Minato and the general had once been positioned to receive refreshments and information, and was told that Tsunade and Orochimaru had taken their leave already the day before.

Continuing along the border on their side, they sped up and ran the remaining distance to the border between the Land of Fire and the Grass. It was a short journey, but as they reached their point of crossing, the general stopped for a short repetition of the plan.

"All right," he began. "We're a day's travel away from the Earth. Once we find our shelter – Haruka, Juukai, Kiri – you keep watch from the best positions possible. I'll keep in touch with Minato. Minato, you're not under my command this time, so you do as you've planned, of course. If there's any need for back-up, which I doubt a little, we'll be less than twenty minutes away. Also, Juukai is a medic-nin, so he can provide treatments."

Minato nodded and got up. So did the general and his team.

"I'll put this on now," Minato said, placing the clip with the speaker device on his mesh shirt and the single earphone behind his ear. "In case we get separated earlier than planned."

"Good idea. You three, do the same."

The Chuunin did the same.

Crossing the border had never been easier, as the Grass for most of the part had abandoned their smaller villages, which were the majority of the country. They had fled to the East, as had been discovered by the Hokage's ANBU squads, making their route more or less clear. They ducked beneath the trees whenever a few travelers or traders came walking down the road, but they were never noticed.

As the sun set, they reached what looked like a big concrete box.

"This is our place," the general said. "Good luck, Minato."

"Thanks," Minato replied, and watched as the four shinobi pushed open a heavy iron door and peered inside. They slipped in through the doorway and was swallowed by the darkness of the room.

The Earth was no more than a five minute run away, but Minato's location was further inside the country than expected.

"General, do you read me?" Minato spoke, pressing his finger on a button on the clip fastened to his shirt.

"I read you, Minato," the general replied, though the sound was cracking up.

"I'm almost there," Minato said. "I can see the factory. I hope the range of these devices go that far."

"Should do," the general said. "Just keep going and notify me when you're there."

"Got it."

Minato sped up, but was careful to keep away from any open spaces when he closed in on the factory. It was large and heavy, with dark windows except for a few lit rooms.

"I'm here," Minato said as audible as he allowed himself.

"Got it," the general said. "The device has a permanent speaking feature, you can turn it on on the clip. If you get any information from the people inside we might hear it as well."

"All right," Minato said, found the button and turned it on. "Hear me now?"

"Hear you, all right."

"I'm going in."

The last second Minato spent on making sure the coast was clear, he realized just how much responsibility he had, and it hit him that inside that old factory, hundreds of children could be hidden.

In what state, he had no idea.


	27. Taken

**By the way, I'm beginning on this new thing; if there's a particular song I've listened to or that has inspired me for the chapter, I'll mention it.**

**Nothing for this, though.**

* * *

**27. Taken**

The old factory was foggy and gray. It hadn't been used in what seemed decades, but Minato could spot footsteps on the dusty floor as he walked silently down the first hallway. By placing his thumb on one of the walls he could sense people placed inside the building.

"General," he said. "There are people inside, but not more than twenty. They might've placed barriers that prevents me from detecting anyone else."

"Keep going, Minato."

Minato listened by a wooden door, but couldn't hear anything. Slowly, he pushed it open.

It was empty, apart from a few work benches, emptied for tools long ago. The windows sent the last streaks of sunlight through, and the dust in the air was a clear powder, floating around the room. He kept going.

The next room was empty as well. He realized he would have to try several rooms before he would find anything, yet no door and no room were left unchecked. He walked into work rooms, offices, lunch rooms and toilets, and the sun sunk lower for every room he visited.

At last, the sun had dropped behind the forest, and the sky was turning a darker shade of blue.

It appeared that the people he had sensed were spread across the higher floors, so after visiting every room on the first floor, he concluded that it was empty and headed down to the cellar. He hadn't sensed anyone there; the chance that there were children hidden behind a barrier was higher downstairs than upstairs.

He landed in the cellar, which was dark and quiet. There were few doors.

The first door led to more toilets. The mirrors were broken, the sinks out of function and the cubicles as empty as the rest of the room. It was the same situation with the next room, which was also a toilet.

The next two doors were far apart; the rooms were either of big size, or the cellar very small. He placed his thumb on the door; there were no people to sense.

Nor were there any disturbance in the air of a barrier.

He pushed the door open. It was a large room, but too dark for him to see. He silently marked the wall outside with his seal for an escape, and turned on the light.

It was a large storage room. Shelves upon shelves were placed in order along the walls, filling up the hall of a room, and the fluorescent lamps in the roof were long and uncovered and slightly blinking. Minato crossed the storage, looking through the empty shelves, but as he reached the inner corner, he had to conclude that there were no one there either.

The next room was a storage that hadn't been emptied. It was larger than the previous, and the lamps weaker and older. Boxes were stacked on top of each other on the shelves, some of them opened and containing nothing but air. Bubble wrap and carton was spread on the floor in pieces, worn and dried by the years. The dust on the floor flew as Minato walked between the various shelves, looking both for anyone particular and at the boxes; they had once contained everything from tools, nails and screws to toilet paper. He even found a few bluish, wet boxes that by the smell of it had once contained dumplings.

He gave the moldy dumplings no more attention and decided to climb the stairs to the second floor. As he did so, he placed his mark on various places, giving him alternative escape routes if he needed them. Voices became clearer as he walked the hallway of the second floor, but they were coming one floor above him; undisturbed, he checked more of the rooms in the building.

On the fourth door, an office appeared before him. This office was not like the previous – empty, dusty, dark – this one still had its lights turned on, papers were spread across the clean desk, the windows were opened just a crack to let fresh air in, and the room was free from the dusty layers.

He sneaked inside. This was a perfect chance to harvest information.

"I found an office," he whispered to the general. "It's been used recently. I'll see if I can find anything."

The general grunted his approval, not wanting to give Minato away by any unnecessary noises. Minato plowed through the papers on the desk, but had to be disappointed once more. The papers were mostly for constructions of buildings, approvals from the Earth's daimyou and the Tsuchikage, files on people who had been hired for the job of reconstructing the building. Nothing that seemed suspicious at all. The bookcase was empty, and the drawers in the desk was filled up with pens, empty sheets of paper, tissues, a few bottles of water -

"Nothing," he whispered. He left the room.

The recently cleaned toilet didn't contain much information either. Minato was beginning to get desperate of finding any information regarding the children; he was on the verge of rolling out every sheet of toilet paper in case something was written on it, but as he begun, he shook his head and realized it was stupid, left the rest of the toilet paper alone and continued to the next room.

Eventually, he begun to climb the stairs to the third floor. Very carefully, and very silently, he peered up from the steps; the voices were coming from the rooms, not the hallway, so he stepped onto the landing and tried to decide which direction to make.

He placed a thumb on the walls again and registered every empty room. He could worry about the occupied rooms later.

All of the rooms were cleaned and furnished for use, and Minato was beginning to suspect that the kidnapper had left false trails to the building. It seemed like the only thing the building was used for at the moment, was reconstructing the factory that had once been there, making electronic artifacts such as televisions and radios. Many of the people in the building were not even shinobi; they were construction workers, engineers and suppliers. Minato realized halfway through the fourth floor that the only reason why the shinobi were there, was for the security of the workers; the factory was, after all, very close to the border.

Angry and disappointed that he hadn't found anything, Minato closed the last door and contemplated whether or not it was a good idea to check the occupied rooms, just to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"I think it's useless to stay," the general said as carefully as he could. "You should retreat. Unseen."

But just as Minato was going to make an answer, he heard voices reaching the top of the stairs. He hurriedly opened a door that went outwards and placed himself behind it, hand firmly on the doorknob to keep the door still. The footsteps came closer.

"... And I want his head, I don't want him alive."

Minato froze. This didn't sound like factory talk.

"I've already put someone on the case." It was a man talking this time, and they came dangerously close. "They headed off seven days ago."

Minato prepared to transport to the lower levels of the building, but he had finally found something worth listening to.

"Good," the woman said. She sounded frustrated. "Exactly what is it they're doing?"

"Can you just help me with – oh, the door's already open," the man said.

_Yeah, you're welcome, _Minato thought as the two persons passed the door he was hiding behind. The man dumped something heavy onto a table before he spoke.

"They're trying to find someone close to him, because I think fighting him directly in his own village would be a suicide mission," he said. "They headed off to investigate."

"Good work," the woman said, now more pleased. "Hopefully he'll take the bait. I've waited for this for _years_ ..."

"I know," the man said. The woman walked out of the room, and headed back for the stairs.

The man was rummaging in what sounded like a wooden box, taking out several heavy iron objects and placing them carefully on the table. Minato tried to listen to anything else he was doing, but nothing more eventful than that happened – not until two more came running up the stairs.

"Mujin!" one of them shouted.

"I'm in here!" the man, Mujin, from the room shouted back. The two newly arrived men ran towards the room, but luckily for Minato, they didn't move the door.

"Where's boss?"

"She just left," Mujin said. "I think she's heading back to headquarters. Why? What's the rush?"

"Go find her," the first man told the other; footsteps could be heard running to the stairs again. "Mujin, the mission's done."

"Serious?" Mujin said, somewhat astounded. "So quickly? I hadn't expected you back for another two weeks -"

"No, no, he wasn't in the village."

Minato frowned.

"And?" Mujin said. "Who did you get?"

"Well, we searched his house," the man said eagerly. "I'm not sure it's his house, though, looks like it belongs to someone else, but anyway, he wasn't the only one living there."

"Uh, all right," Mujin said. Minato could almost hear the frown on his face.

"Yeah," the man continued. He sounded as though he could be jumping up and down of delight. "Boss is gonna be pleased."

"And you're sure it was his house?"

"No, like I said we thought it belonged to someone else -"

"Cut the crap. You're sure _he lived there_?"

"Oh, yes. We found some mission papers with his name on, and a couple of those kunai you said he uses -"

It felt as though a stone had been dropped in Minato's stomach.

"Anyway, someone else lived there and we found some pictures – and she came home just that moment so we decided to go for it -"

Horror rose inside Minato. His hand clenched tighter around the doorknob as the words rang through his mind and he feared what they were talking about – who they had taken -

"It's his girlfriend, he's bound to show up. She put up a hell of a fight but you know Mana – big, violent man, he knocked her out, they should be at headquarters soon."

"Did you get her name?"

"Yeah, we did," the man said in a pleased tone. "Her name's Uzumaki Kushina."

* * *

**Before we wait for the next chapter, I would like to thank all of you for reading my story! It's well past 10,700 views, which is amazing. :)**

**thankyouthankyouthankyou!**


	28. A Door is a Weapon Too

**I promise chapter 29 will be longer! It's up a few days after this. :)**

_- Placebo: "Running Up That Hill" (Sleeping with Ghosts)_

* * *

**28. A Door is a Weapon Too**

Minato's heart was hammering. Fear and anger mixed and he felt his hand shaking.

"An Uzumaki, huh?" Mujin said. "Well, question her. She might know where he is."

"All right."

The man turned and walked out of the room.

Minato swallowed. She was still alive, and she would be for a while if they needed her.

"Taki," Mujin said.

"Yeah?" the man, Taki, replied, stopping on the other side of the open door.

"Good work. You know what to do; if you can't get anything out of her, just get rid of her."

Minato reacted before he thought. In a moment of pure anger he slammed the door in the man's face, who fell backwards of the impact and lay unconscious on the floor.

"What the -" Mujin said.

"Minato, I forbid you -" the general began on the earphone, but Minato had already transported himself to the inside of the room, where he had left the mark. He landed on top of the wide sill with a soft _thump_, making Mujin turn; the man turned at the sound and his eyes widened at the sight of the man they had been so eager to catch, and who was now standing right before his eyes.

The sword in his hand cut the air like a razor, sending a blow so sharp a long, vertical line of blood appeared on Mujin, and he fell backwards, landing behind the table of iron chains and handcuffs.

"Minato," the general said, clearly this time. "Minato, I know what you're thinking. _Don't _head out."

Minato jumped down from the sill and stood there, breathing heavily, anger shaking him. Something so dear to him had just been taken away from him.

"This is serious, Minato," the general continued when he couldn't get an answer. "She'll be alive, but listen – _listen_, Minato! This is bigger than just a girl being kidnapped, you know it is. This is a matter of international conflict between two countries, we have to consult the Hokage and his councilors, and besides, it's you they're after -"

"I don't care about that," Minato hissed as he transported himself to the office on the second floor and rummaged for a map he had seen earlier. "General, I know her better than anyone else. I know how the chakra inside her works – if she loses her temper in a wrong way it can take the better of her -"

"It hasn't happened before – once, all right – but she was young and had no control of the chakra in general, she is more responsible now than back then -"

"You don't understand," Minato said, tearing through papers and finally finding a large map. "She won't lose control if she's simply angry, but if she's in danger and someone else is in danger -"

"Minato, you can't run out there."

"And when they find out what she is, then what?" Minato said furiously and measured the distance between the place marked 'radio factory' and the place marked 'HQ'. "They'll take the Kyuubi, they'll kill her!"

"Until they find out what she is, we will have come up with a decent plan! And even if she should transform, one person can't hold her down, not even you."

"I can, general. I have a way of turning her back and closing her chakra."

"Even so, Minato; this is no mission for a single person. As your general both formerly and of higher rank, I _forbid you _to go after her and order you to retreat. Is that clear?"

Minato closed his eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh. He went quiet.

He could hear the breathing of the general as he waited for Minato's answer, but Minato already knew that no matter how insistent the general tried to be, he couldn't go back. He couldn't leave her. Not for his sake, and not in the danger she was in.

Earth had no idea who they had captured. It was only a matter of time until they figured it out.

"I'm sorry, general," Minato said calmly, and heard a groan on the earphone. "I'm making my own mission on this."

"Minato -"

"Report me a missing-nin if you have to." Minato collected the map and transported himself to the grounds outside the factory. "I'll do whatever I can to bring her back, alive and with the Kyuubi inside her. I'll leave the speaking device on. Over and out."

He ripped the earphone off and could distantly hear shouting coming from the little speaker, but stuffed it quickly in his pocket and set off.

This couldn't go wrong.

* * *

**Forgive me, but I don't really have a clue about how walkie-talkie language is like. So if they were supposed to say anything in particular after every line or something, I had no idea.**


	29. Explode

**After the prologue, this is the longest chapter I've written!**

**(and it's still only 3150 words, heh)**

_- Ramin Djawadi: "Wildfire" (Game of Thrones)_

_- Ramin Djawadi: "Heir to Winterfell" (Game of Thrones)_

* * *

**29. Explode**

_They had allowed themselves a moment of time together, despite the importance of his mission. Packing his bag, where she was lending him a helping hand, had been made second priority; for now, they were lying in the king-size bed, doing nothing of the sort. The owner of the house would have been disappointed of the fact that they were both still wearing clothes even though it was his bed they were lying in; although there _had _been a pair of small, warm hands slipping underneath his shirt at one point to get a closer feel of his abs, which in all honesty had surprised him as much as it had made his long hidden manly instincts surface to a point in which he had begun to understand what his sensei had taught him that wasn't training-related._

_But his instincts had told him not to take any further steps, so in the end, they were just resting on the bed, next to each other._

_She had asked why he had suddenly become so careless about mission orders. Not that he had been given any specific order on when to leave, except that he had said himself that he was leaving at once._

_He hadn't replied to that, only smiled, one arm underneath his own head and the other resting next to him, fingers playing softly with hers. She had blushed; it wasn't an embarrassed blush, it was a good one._

_She had smiled back._

* * *

Headquarters were, to Minato's general frustration, far away from the factory. He ran without rest, keeping a high alert on any disturbances or ambushes coming his way. If the Earth were out to get him, he wasn't going to become reckless; he didn't allow himself to be distracted by the ill feeling his stomach held, or the pictures flashing in his mind, thoughts he didn't want to believe.

He had found a more or less straight path towards the new location, but hindrances came with the package. Not wanting to be delayed by unnecessary battles, he chose to take a detour around a group of ten shinobi resting in a clearing, even though he could have taken on all of them by himself. Several situations like this occurred, until Minato had moved more in S-shapes than lines.

He was prepared to close the distance and get to headquarters as quickly as he could, but he knew it was going to take at least an hour to get there. He believed in Kushina's skills and knew she was strong enough to get through this, but detecting the thing living inside of her was not a difficult task, and the hour between him and her could make all the difference in the world.

Although he tried to push it to the back of his mind, a nagging feeling of regret had hit him. He regretted not being more insistent on leaving her one of his kunais. And he regretted not being able to tell her what he had been so keen on telling her the last time they had been together. But it had been so perfect nevertheless, and it was as though the way he had smiled, looked at her, and the way she had returned both, had made a mutual understanding in what he felt, like there had been no need to say it out loud.

But he couldn't take it if he never got the chance to tell her at least once.

He shook his head, trying to focus on the important factors. It wasn't because of his relationship or his feelings towards her that made it necessary to disobey every order and rush out in the middle of an international conflict all by himself with the possibility of making things worse. It was, in general, to make sure Konoha still was the possessor of the Kyuubi and prevent it from falling in the wrong hands. The fact that Kushina could die in the process was plainly his own conflict, and had no importance otherwise compared to the rest of the situation.

He knew he could stop her if the red chakra would pour out, even though the rest of Konoha didn't. Maybe it was time to introduce the new compression seal to the Hokage; he just hoped he would get the chance to do so with the product still untested in a real situation.

He ran through the thick forests, avoiding the largest paths as much as possible and now and then making sure he wasn't being followed. As the minutes slowly passed by, his heart hammered harder and the anxious feeling of not knowing, but fearing, what lay ahead, grew.

* * *

_The woman was mad. Furious, in fact. Kushina could tell she was making the woman lose her patience, being an impatient being herself, but had no intention of uttering a single word._

_So far, she had said nada. So far, so good._

_Kushina had no idea why the woman was asking all these questions about Minato. Where he was, what he was doing, who he was with, for how long he was out of the village; if Kushina hadn't been so stubborn to refuse to speak a single word, she would have advised the woman to seek out some of Konoha's most annoying group of girls. They had, after all, verbally documented every corner and every detail of Minato's life possible._

_And to send their regards; maybe they'd be pleased to know she was currently out of their way._

_Kushina shook her head. Even though she hated their guts, she knew the girls of her generation fairly well. And she knew none of them would betray a comrade, even if it meant her._

_She blamed it on anger. It was one thing that the woman was so furious over something, but Kushina was mad herself for being ambushed in her own house (so to speak), knocked out by a strange man and dragged far away from her village; she hadn't even received an explanation yet._

_She knew they were looking for Minato, and that they had been unsuccessful in arranging a meeting with him. But exactly what they needed him for was currently unclear to her, and she had realized soon enough that the reason why she was the one to be kidnapped was purely her bad luck. Anyone could have known where Minato was._

_The woman had been kicking at her subordinates out of lack of things to let out her anger on, and was turning her glare at Kushina._

_She glared back._

"_You realize you need to speak if you want to keep your life, right?" the woman hissed._

_Kushina tried to keep her composition, but the inside of her was starting to panic. She fumbled with the iron handcuffs locked carefully around her wrists, but people were standing behind her, and any attempt to unlock them wouldn't go unnoticed. And to top it all, they prevented her from channeling chakra to her hands._

_Suddenly, the woman rushed forwards to where Kushina was sitting, pulled her head back by grabbing a painful hold of her hair and a kunai was flying towards her throat -_

_The kunai stopped, the tip about to break through her skin. The woman's hand shook out of fury as she glared at her, and Kushina's heart was hammering so hard she knew it was useless to pretend she wasn't starting to freak out._

"_I'll ask one more time, and one time only," the woman said, her voice as clear and composed as she could, but her glare had already killed Kushina at least ten times. "Where is Namikaze Minato? What is he doing?"_

_Her hand flew from the hair and up to Kushina's throat, squeezing hard enough to make it harder to breathe. The discomfort made Kushina act automatically, trying to wrench herself out of the woman's piercing grip, but the kunai only dug deeper, the sharp tip threatening to burst through her pale skin._

_And still, her mouth kept shut._

_The woman's face grimaced so much Kushina was sure she was going to slash her throat open any moment; then, she let out a furious howl, stood up and threw the kunai away._

"_If I can interrupt," a man said hesitatingly. "Mujin has usually given us permission to get rid of hostages if they prove useless, and I don't think we'll get anything out of this one."_

"_Then do it!" the woman hissed. Not a moment passed before Kushina could hear footsteps from every angle moving towards her, closing in; she tried to think of her possibilities, but all she could do was kick if she had to, as her chakra channels had been closed by different sets of iron cuffs and chains, surrounding her legs, arms and upper body. If she died now, the Kyuubi would break free, and even though it would most likely crush every single person inside the building, it would end up in the Earth's possession; something Konoha could do without. Konoha was weak enough to begin with._

"_Just dump her outside," the woman said. "I don't care. I need nothing more than to get to that piece of trash and rip his head off -"_

_In Kushina's already panicking state of mind, this was too much._

* * *

Minato was getting closer, he knew it. The area was far more empty, and he could run on the quickest roads undetected.

He had heard the general shout loudly from the earphone in his pocket from time to time, trying to communicate with him, but he had only picked it up to hear if there was any important information to gather from the shouting.

It had mostly been _you have no idea what kind of trouble you are in _and _get your ass back to the village – _nothing Minato hadn't expected, and nothing he had replied to.

The only thing the general had yelled through the pocketed earphone of relevance was that they had sent one hell of a back-up after him, so Minato had set up quick signs telling which way he had gone. He just hoped the location was the right one; Taki had said headquarters, but they could have moved her, changed their minds, chosen a different location … Headquarters would nevertheless be a safe place to start, so Minato ran without hesitation.

After almost an hour of running, Minato stopped and climbed to the top of a tall tree. From one of the topmost branches, he could see a large block of a building, made of concrete and taller than it was wide. A few windows had been cut out, and a few of them were lit, though it was too far away from him to see anyone inside them.

He landed back on solid ground, and continued on the path, concluding that it went straight to headquarters.

He had taken three steps when the feeling hit him.

It was horrible, pinching, the hairs in his neck rose; it felt like despair and anger, something like the anxious and furious feeling he had felt as soon as he had heard they had taken Kushina, just fifty times worse. He didn't need many seconds to realize that this was not his instincts or wild imagination telling him something bad was going to happen.

He could sense it in the air.

It was as though he floated through a sea of fury, and he could distantly, yet certainly, remember sensing something similar many years ago. He had seen Kushina's secret for the first time, in the shape of a red, boiling chakra surrounding the girl, whose face had turned piercingly angry, with fangs and red eyes.

This felt much worse.

He didn't stop for a second. He didn't even pick up the speaking device to report to the general. If anything, he picked up the pace, despite having already ran for one hour.

He had sprinted the last few hundred meters, but could barely remember them. He kept only a quarter of an eye up for any guards surrounding the building, but they would never have gotten to him anyway; as soon as the front door was visible for him, he threw a Hiraishin kunai at it, channeled chakra to his feet, transported himself to the flying weapon and kicked the door in with a large crash; at the same time, a howl rang through the building and escaped through every open window.

It was sudden, but it lasted long enough for Minato to locate it. Sprinting up the stairs he noticed that not just he had figured out that something was terribly wrong; he ran past his enemies, who only had in mind to to escape, yet were stuck to the ground of horror; on the third floor, the horrible chakra he had felt was so clear he knew he was only moments away, so while he ran down the deserted hallway he grabbed a compression seal from his pocket, prepared ways to place it on Kushina and then simply grab her arm and transport them both out of the building, no matter how confused she would be.

It was not going to go as planned.

He stopped by the doors he knew led to the room he sought and wrenched them open – and he momentarily froze of shock.

Kushina wasn't surrounded by a red, boiling, hot chakra; Kushina wasn't there at all. There were several bodies on the floor, eyes open and blood pouring out of their mouths. In the midst of them stood a monster, a black and red mass with white-gleaming eyes and uneven structure, four long tails swaying behind it, mouth wide open -

A black ball was growing inside it, swirling in a mass of deadly chakra, until it reached a size as large as the monster's own head and shot to the floor; Minato blocked his face from crushed objects coming his way and could for only a second see a few people disappearing behind the grand explosion, smouldered by the impact. The walls and floor had gone, and the roof was collapsing, bit by bit.

The monster turned his head, looking directly at Minato. He had to do it now.

It lasted only seconds, but in Minato's mind, it all happened in slow-motion. While he grabbed a kunai from his pocket, the large demon placed one clawed foot in front of the other, moving towards him; he ran, threw the kunai, the demon stopped and raised a hand-like foot, ready to catch the kunai and melt it; only moments before the kunai would have become ash Minato appeared before the monster, and just as he slammed the compression seal on the monster's growling head he felt claws grabbing his arm in a grip as hot as fire –

Minato let out a painful groan and opened his eyes.

He had blacked out for a moment. He realized he had been thrown several feet, but was confused as to where he was; judging by the immense pain in his whole body and the things he was lying at, he thought he had been thrown into the ruins of the building. He was lying on his stomach, and tried to move; he could still feel every part of his body, and in some way move them, and tried to roll over.

Once on his back, he saw he wasn't lying in any ruins. A hole in the wall next to him showed him that he had been thrown back into the hallway, but the speed had been so quick that the meeting with the next wall hadn't stopped him. He had gone straight through it.

The horrible chakra was gone, as though someone had turned on the light in a very dark room. Minato tried to support himself to be able to stand up, but it was difficult; a few of his ribs were undoubtedly broken, and blood was pouring out behind his left knee where a large gash had been made. His left arm was burnt and numb, and blood was dripping out of the wide burn mark.

He felt weak and terribly injured, but with one big effort, he managed to push himself up, and stood against the cracked wall. Testing his leg, he figured he could manage to walk across the hallway and into the ruined room where the horror had appeared only moments earlier.

It took time to walk those few feet. And as he supported himself to the door and looked inside the remains of the room, he felt a sting in his heart.

If she had once been a monster, it was impossible to tell. She was unconscious, lying on the floor unhurt, pale, red hair flowing around her. Minato made his way towards her and fell to his knees next to her. His unburnt hand reached out, touched her cheek and whispered her name.

She didn't react, but she breathed steadily. She wasn't used to let out so much of the Kyuubi's chakra; her mind and body had been completely knocked out. Arms shaking but mind determined, Minato lifted Kushina's arms and placed them around his neck, supporting her head against his shoulder. One arm around her back and one supporting her legs, he was ready to pick her up. Every part of his body was screaming against it, wanting to rest, but they couldn't stay there. Enemies that had fled the building would come back, and Minato was as much in a state to fight as the unconscious Kushina.

He had heard the tales about the brave, strong, flawless heroes, those who had set out to save a young girl and returned home, not a scratch on his face and the girl looking admiringly up at him in his arms, the audience applauding for his bravery and the success of the quest. It had been something similar to those stories the day he had set off to rescue Kushina when they were Genin. This time, however, he was injured to the point were he could barely stand, the girl was unconscious (he probably would have been better off being carried by her, had she only been awake) and the people at home were most likely going to throw him in jail for disobeying orders in such a situation.

Teeth clenched and mind set, he rose from the floor, girl in his arms and blood dripping onto the floor.


	30. Intentions

_- Hans Zimmer: "On Thin Ice" (The Dark Knight Rises)_

_- Ramin Djawadi: "I Paid the Iron Price" (Game of Thrones)_

* * *

**30. Intentions**

The view was unclear as smoke rose from the smashed side of the concrete building, and the sky, usually full of stars and moonshine falling to the ground, was disappearing behind clouds. None of this improved Minato's situation; there was no telling if and when the pieces of the building would move any more, and he couldn't see any incoming enemies.

Plus, he had difficulties keeping his leg up, so the way out of the ruins took longer than Minato felt safe with.

Kushina still hadn't made any sign of waking up. When she did, she could stop the bleeding on Minato's leg – he had no experience with medical issues, but knew Kushina had some – and as soon as he could get some rest, he could work up the strength and stamina to get them out of there. Knowing Kushina, she would be full of energy the moment she woke up, she could keep watch …

For now, he just had to walk until they entered the Land of Fire, and with this speed, that would take days.

Minato stepped from one piece of concrete to another, trying to select the ones that looked fairly stable. He pushed the dizziness away, but his head felt heavy. As he walked towards solid ground, he found himself unfocused several times, thinking how dangerous this could be had there been enemies lurking around; he couldn't sense anyone else than himself and her, but for all he knew, they could be on their way.

He could still feel Kushina's breath against his chest, her head resting steadily against his shoulder. He remembered how scared she had been the day he had figured out her secret, believing he would think of her as something else, or a monster – now, he was more sure than ever that the girl and the monster were two completely different things. He would probably have to remind her as soon as she woke up.

The pile of concrete pieces grew steeper, putting more pressure on Minato's injured leg; every step was a shot of pain, and he fastened his grip around Kushina, terrified to lose her. But he was nearly there, the ground was only feet away -

He had taken two steps on the cold, dusty grass before his leg gave in. He fell to his knees, but had seen it coming; by keeping Kushina close, he didn't lose his grip around her as he hit the ground. Carefully, he placed her legs down to free his injured arm. One glance at it was enough to see that the bleeding had not stopped there either. If this continued, he'd have no chance of getting anywhere near the border or the back-up that was coming after him.

He was going through the possibilities he had when the air revealed they were not alone. The wind carried the sounds of hurried footsteps and he could distantly see the shadows of four people running towards him.

He had no choice but to try to get past them as quickly as he could. With his free and injured hand he grabbed a Hiraishin kunai from his pocket, ready to throw it and channel his chakra. It would be painful, and not the most elegant attempt of this technique, but staying to fight was not an option -

Relief ran through him as the four persons closed in and he could see the symbol of Konoha on the forehead of the closest one.

It seemed that instead of waiting for the back-up to catch up with them, the general had decided to set off immediately with the three Chuunin.

"Minato!" the general said. "What the hell happened here? We sensed a large mass of chakra and – what the hell happened to you?"

The general's face paled as he noticed the burnt arm and Minato's worn, beaten attire. Juukai hurried forwards to take a look at it, but Minato only shook his head and made to grab Kushina's legs again.

"We have to get out of here," he said hoarsly. "Someone must have heard this."

"Was it her?" the general asked, nodding at the mass of the building behind Minato. Minato nodded.

The general looked back down at them, from the injuries Minato had gained to the apparently unharmed, unconscious girl resting against him.

"All right," the general said. "Kiri, carry the girl, I'll support Minato -"

"No, it's fine, I can walk," Minato said, bracing himself to stand up again. When the general did not look convinced, he added, "It's fine, really. Besides, I can't fight in this condition, the rest of you can if you're not carrying me and Kushina."

"Good point, but you won't last all the way to Konoha," the general said, giving Minato a sharp look. Minato felt the first sting of bad conscience – despite his injuries, the general hadn't forgotten Minato's behavior - but pushed it away.

They headed back, the general in the lead, Juukai the medic-nin behind him and the other two Chuunin behind Minato. Meanwhile, the general updated Minato on the reinforcements he was hoping to receive.

"We sent a note to the closest border squad at once," he said. "They should be able to send a good back-up. We also sent a note to the Hokage, it's probably not delivered yet, but we decided we couldn't wait for someone to back us up. If the border squad received the note when they should, the back-up should be here soon, but I suggest we stop once we're a little way off the road to get you healed, Minato, at least enough to get you to the border post."

Minato nodded. He wasn't going to say it out loud any time soon, but he feared that talking would spend too much of his energy, so instead of asking the questions he wanted to ask and report the happenings to the general, he kept quiet, focusing on taking one step at a time and keeping Kushina in his arms.

Though after a while, when the general felt safe enough to keep an eye up for a good spot to take a break, about ten people showed up, surrounding them.

"Minato, get away from the girl."

Minato was surprised of the order he was given, but was more surprised to see who was giving it. Danzou stood in front of them on the path they had chosen, masked men standing in a circle around them. However, even though the masked men resembled ANBU, Minato had spent enough time with those members to see there was something different about these …

Some of the masked men had stepped forward to drag the general and the Chuunin away from him.

"I repeat," Danzou said, looking firmly at Minato and speaking calmly. "Get away from the girl."

"I'm not going to dump her on the ground, if that's what you want," Minato replied, his voice as equally calm.

Danzou's glare grew darker, but before he had the chance to say anything, someone more familiar emerged from behind the circle. It was Tsume.

"I'll take her," she said as she approached Minato. There was something very relieving about seeing someone else than Danzou and the strange, masked men, and her voice wasn't accusing. Trusting that Kushina would be in safe hands with her teammate, Minato handed her to Tsume, who kept a firm hold on her and backed off, not back to where Danzou stood, but towards general Hiromu.

Minato opened his mouth to ask what Danzou's intentions were, but was cut off by Danzou giving orders to the masked men. He told them to step into formations – five placed around Minato alone, the rest protecting the general, the Chuunin and Kushina.

"What's this all about?" general Hiromu asked, clearly disliking the fact that Danzou had stepped in and taken all the authority.

"The girl is not safe with him," Danzou said, nodding towards Minato. "We're taking them both back to Konoha."

"Since when was she not safe with Minato?" the general asked incredulously.

"As I remember," Danzou said coldly. "It was you yourself who sent me the details. Minato disobeyed your own orders to make his own mission. Has it not occurred to you that Minato's intentions could be false?"

"False?" the general repeated. "No. I refuse to believe Minato has other intentions than good ones. He was not directly under my command, and as I remember, I didn't demand an arrest."

"This is not your area, general," Danzou said. "It is my job to retrieve these people to the Hokage."

"And since when did you get orders by the Hokage?" the general said. "The bird we sent can't have arrived Konoha yet -"

"We collected the note," Danzou said.

"You what?" the general said, face angry. "And you didn't pass it on, despite knowing the letter was to the Hokage himself?"

"The Hokage wouldn't be able to do anything by the time we had taken action," Danzou said. "We might as well deliver the message ourselves. Besides, it's a waste of effort to send another reinforcement team from Konoha when I had my subordinates with me to the border. This will do to escort both the girl and the boy back to Konoha separately."

The general glared.

"Minato is not a missing-nin, Danzou."

"He made his choice," Danzou said. "And the case needs thorough inspection."

At that, Danzou turned and signaled for the masked men to move.

"Let me at least heal him," Juukai suddenly said, voice uncertain. "His bleedings must be stopped."

Danzou grumbled.

"All right," he spat. "But make it quick."

Juukai ran forwards, gestured for Minato to sit down on the ground and knelt next to him. He had managed to stop the bleeding on Minato's leg and arm, but before he had the chance to clean up any of the wounds, Danzou lost patience and hushed him back to the general. Minato had no choice but to stand up and follow the cold man, surrounded by animal-masked men, his leg and arm still aching.

* * *

"Danzou, you have to stop this. This is madness."

The general's voice was angry. The sky was lighter, the sun was about to rise, but Minato's sight was growing darker. The hours they had walked without stop had worn him out, and the wound behind his knee had started to bleed again. His leg and arm was growing numb, but the wound behind his knee was aching worse than ever. Breathing felt painful as his ribs proved with every breath that some had broken. General Hiromu had commented earlier that they had to stop to see to Minato's wounds soon, but Danzou had only ignored it, waved it off or snapped back that they had to get back to the village as soon as possible, and that every unnecessary delay should be avoided.

Though it seemed that in the end, Minato's wounds had caught up with him, and he had to stop and lean against a tree to not fall as black dots appeared before his eyes once more.

"We can stop at the border," Danzou repeated. "The Jinchuuriki is the priority now."

"The Jinchuuriki wouldn't have been a priority if he hadn't stopped her," the general said, unable to conceal the anger in his voice. Minato had been treated like a villain ever since Danzou and his strange subordinates had shown up, and even though the general was angry with Minato's behavior and the fact that he probably had gotten the general himself into trouble too, the general seemed to move more and more onto Minato's side.

"The wounds are infected," Juukai said worriedly. "He won't be able to walk if you push him any longer."

"He will walk if I order him to walk," Danzou said coldly.

The general growled and moved towards Minato. He lifted Minato's uninjured arm over his shoulder, supporting him.

He glared at Danzou's piercing look without blinking, as if daring him to tell him to leave Minato. Minato himself would have glared as well, but his head was so heavy with fever that all he could do was look at the ground.

"Very well," Danzou said, and signaled for them to move on. They did.

The path had grown wide as they neared the border between the Land of Fire and the Grass, and the masked men spread, giving Minato a chance to get a look back at Kushina. She was still unconscious.

Minato had feared he would faint long before they reached the border post, but the fever didn't get the chance to knock him out before they stepped over the border and headed towards the small huts placed around the open area. Medic-nin came rushing forwards, but Danzou cut them off, telling them to see to Kushina and ordering one of them to show them to an empty, secure hut. As he saw Kushina disappear inside the large emergency hit, one of the masked men grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him into a smaller one, the other four masked men never leaving the circle around him.

He was pushed down on a chair in the middle of the single room in the hut, Danzou standing against the inner wall. Danzou looked at the general and opened his mouth to talk, but the general refused to be dismissed.

"I'm staying, Danzou," the general said firmly. "It was I who ordered a back-up, you're not the only authority here."

"Very well," Danzou said coldly. He turned to Minato, who did his best to keep his head up and glare back. "Let's begin with hearing the story of how you left on your own little mission."

"Isn't this something the Hokage should ask himself?" Minato said, trying to keep his voice clear. "Last time I checked, you need to be in an interrogation squad or have the orders to interrogate."

"Plus," the general added in. "The note making it possible for the Hokage to give such orders is in your possession."

"I operate under a sub-branch of ANBU," Danzou said. "And have the opportunity to make such orders my own."

This was completely new to Minato; since when had Danzou anything to do with ANBU?

"So," Danzou continued. "Tell me. Why did you disobey orders and leave an important mission; for your own sake?"

"First of all," Minato said bitterly, finding it hard to make his eyes focus. "The mission I was doing at that moment wasn't giving any results. No, I hadn't been released from the mission, but it wouldn't have been any more use for me to continue. I disobeyed orders because I had the chance to do something before it was too late."

"Too late for what?"

"Too late to save the Kyuubi," Minato said. "And too late to keep it out of the Earth's possession."

"Whether or not the girl would have lost the Kyuubi was always uncertain," Danzou said. "As far as I know the kidnappers didn't know of her identity."

"They do now."

Danzou tried and failed to not look questioningly at him, so Minato raised his arm slightly to show the burn marks.

"What's this all about?" Danzou asked.

"She lost control and the Kyuubi took over," Minato said. His breathing became sharper and heavier. "She had turned into a four-tailed Kyuubi when I showed up at the location. Some of the men escaped the building before the Kyuubi destroyed most of it, so ... they can have passed the information on."

Danzou frowned.

"And you want me to believe that you stopped the Kyuubi by yourself, do you?"

Minato rummaged in a pocket and picked up another copy of the compression seal he had made. He held it out to Danzou, who approached carefully and took it.

"It compresses chakra, trapping it inside the container. Once I placed it on the Kyuubi, the chakra was locked inside Kushina, and she turned back."

Danzou examined the piece of paper for a moment, before he turned a suspicious look back at Minato.

"Where did you meet Minato, general?" Danzou asked.

"Right outside the destroyed headquarters they were in," the general said. "Minato had only gotten out of it, carrying the girl. We left immediately."

"So there's no proof of Minato's intentions being actually taking the girl back to Konoha," Danzou said. "He could have come along simply because he wanted to hide it. There could be many reasons to go after the girl."

"What are you insinuating?" Minato said, momentarily distracted from the fever. He was beginning to suspect if Danzou's intentions were real as much as Danzou himself was suspecting him. Danzou had trusted Minato with missions before; the suspicion in the man seemed so sudden and ... fake.

"You have the strength and the skill to take the Kyuubi for yourself," Danzou said. "Or you could have cooperated under another name, someone outside this country, perhaps?"

"Are you kidding me?" the general said.

"I'm taking this seriously, general," Danzou said, voice raised. "Every action of this kind should be questioned, interrogated and inspected thoroughly; this sort of behavior is exactly the kind showed on reported missing-nin!"

"I thought we were through this," the general said. "Minato is _not _a missing-nin. No one has reported him yet, and no one will. He was prepared to face the worst and he did; how many people do you think would run after someone who could have turned into a monster if it wasn't for protection? No one would face a monster without hesitation if the intentions were to secure it for yourself without getting hurt!"

"There are people in this world who would," Danzou said clearly. "I didn't say they were in their right minds."

Minato glared, though his sight flimmered.

"I'm placing my subordinates on watch," Danzou said, pocketing the compression seal. "Until the Hokage gives different orders, Minato should be watched at all times."

"And if that's all," the general said through gritted teeth. "I'm taking this boy to the emergency hut."

Without waiting for Danzou's approval, the general grabbed Minato's arm again and led him out of the hut and towards the same hut they had carried Kushina to.

As they entered, masked men sticking to them like flies, the first thing Minato looked at was the violet eyes of an astonished Kushina, currently on her way out of the tent.

"Minato, what -"

She had meant to ask what the fuzz was all about, but one of the masked men had pushed her away from him, telling her to keep away.

"Tsume, what's going on?" Minato heard Kushina ask as the rest of the masked men grouped around him and led him to a separate room.

The door was shut behind him, two of the masked men standing outside, a medic-nin following them inside the small, dark room. The light was weak, flimmering slightly, and there was no window. He sat carefully down on the bed placed in the corner, swung both legs on – the other one with help from his healthy arm – and let the medic-nin carefully take of his hooded jacket and cut the mesh top off so he wouldn't have to move his ribs any more than he already had. The bandages he wore around his leg was taken off, showing blood-stained skin, and the leg of the pants pushed up to reveal the whole cut. Minato was unable to sit straight as the strength he had used to keep himself up all the way to the border was fading, so he leaned forwards on his healthy hand, injured arm resting on injured leg. The medic-nin begun by healing his ribs, making sure none of them punctured his lungs.

They had only gotten so far when Minato felt the need to lean against the wall, black dots coming up and never disappearing; he felt himself slide forwards but was stopped by the medic-nin's gentle hands; at the same time as a loud chaos was heard outside and the door was opened, and the last thing Minato managed to see before a black wall surrounded him was a person standing in the doorway, silhouetted black against the light outside. He had tried to hear if the person spoke to find out who it was, but the person who had appeared was apparently at a loss for words.


	31. Words of an Idiot

**I'll try to make the next chapter longer, but I'm off for a vacation in a few days, so there's little time!**

_- Ramin Djawadi: "You Know Nothing" (Game of Thrones)_

* * *

**31. Words of an Idiot**

Minato had dreamed about her. It had been so real that when he opened his eyes and looked directly into her so familiar ones, he had needed a moment to realize he was not still dreaming.

"How did you get in?" he mumbled, voice unable to get much of a volume, but his mouth unable to keep away the smile of seeing her.

Kushina placed a finger on his lips to keep him quiet and placed a cold towel on his forehead.

"You should sleep," she whispered.

He only shook his head and kept his gaze at her. He needed to know she was all right.

"All right, I'll tell you," Kushina said, sitting down on the bedside. "The guards are on break, and the two outside were stupid enough to mistake me for a medic."

She pointed towards a white cloak hung over the back of a chair.

"Now sleep," she commanded.

The look he had given her must have been full of worry; she looked him deep in the eyes, saying, "I'm fine, Minato. Worry about yourself, you're the complete mess here."

"I know, but -"

Minato had been in such a hurry to sit up he had completely forgotten his injuries, despite just being reminded of them. A sharp pain shot from his arm and leg to his head, and clutching his arm only made him so dizzy he almost fell forwards again hadn't he been held up by Kushina.

"Have I ever called you an idiot?" she asked dejectedly.

"More than once," Minato said through gritted teeth, watching how the dark, stained blood from a few hours ago were mixed with a freshly red color on his white bandages.

"Yet you never seem to take it seriously," Kushina sighed, removing the quilt and starting to remove the white bandage from his leg. Minato had never been treated for wounds by her before, but knew she had the experience from the war; after being stuck in the village, she had helped at the hospital, learning enough control to be able to treat injuries like these. Minato had never known how well she had done, though he felt perfectly safe. The familiar chakra had a reassuring effect on him, and it was as though it merged with his wound, closing it and stopping the bleeding; maybe the years of being so close to Kushina had given it a special effect, or maybe she was just that confident with her medical skills. She was mixing her chakra methods with traditional ones, not being able to control her chakra well enough to use chakra only, but it seemed to work.

"The general told me what happened," Kushina said, turning more serious. "He told me what you did. And what I did. He's trying to figure out why those people were after you, too. You know you could have been killed, right?"

"Yes," Minato said. The answer was so straight-forward and quick that Kushina shot him an incredulous look.

"I wasn't going to leave you there," Minato continued when Kushina didn't say anything.

"Minato," Kushina said clearly, pointing at his arm. "I did this. _I _did. All right, maybe it wasn't _me_, but if I hadn't been the Jinchuuriki, if I hadn't been the one who lived in the same house as you because I got kicked out of my own apartment, none of this would have happened – you do know that, right? You do know what I am?"

"Of course I do," Minato said with a small frown. "That's why I set out for you. I know the mission was to retrieve the Kyuubi to Konoha, but it made it worse that it will kill you if they steal the Kyuubi from you -"

"Of course it will, Minato," Kushina said, now looking sad. She continued healing the wound underneath his knee. "And it's likely to happen again, and I don't want you to risk your life just because you're my boyfriend – I'm not good for you, Minato -"

Minato realized he was hearing words he didn't want to hear.

"Kushina," he said clearly, cutting her off. "I know what you are. I've been aware of that for years, and I haven't forgotten. I know what it means to be with you, I know there are risks being with someone who has a monster concealed inside her, but you're nothing like it, you're so much better and you deserve to be something else than a host -"

"I can't, Minato," Kushina said, sadness still visible on her face. "I can't be something else than a host, it's too late for that."

"Still," Minato said insistingly. "It doesn't change the fact that I love you."

It wasn't the first time he had meant those words, he just hadn't said them out loud until now. Kushina stared in his eyes, the words sinking in, something looking a lot like tears threatening to fall, torn between staying away from him for his own good or speaking the words back, continuing to be a danger to him. Minato knew he much preferred the latter.

"You don't have to leave," Minato said. "I'd come after you even if we weren't friends."

"I know," Kushina said, and she now smiled despite the tears welling up in her eyes. "You already did that."

Minato smiled back with relief.

"Just promise me one thing," Kushina said, her tone a bit more serious again, but still milder. "I know the Kyuubi best, and I know what he's capable of. If I tell you to run, you run. If you know it's useless, you _run_. Is that clear?"

Minato felt like he had no choice but to nod; her glare was piercing, daring him to disagree.

Perfectly happy with his response, Kushina wiped the tears away and continued to tend to his wound. Minato suddenly realized something.

"I put you in danger too."

"I know," Kushina sighed and started covering his leg with new, white bandage. "I was waiting for something like this to happen, eventually."

Minato frowned. "You did?"

"Oh, come on, Minato," Kushina said with a raised eyebrow. "Have you seen the prices on your head recently? You're not exactly on spring sale."

Minato couldn't help it. He laughed.

While Kushina begun unrolling the blood-stained bandage on his arm, Minato observed her with a mild smile on his face. The smile eventually faded.

"You do know your secret's been exposed, right?" he asked quietly.

Kushina looked at him for a moment, and then, while continuing to cool down his burn mark with her chakra, she sighed.

"No one's told me, no," she said. "But I figured … It was only a matter of time, wasn't it."

Minato reached out for the kunai pockets on the table next to the bed and grabbed a Hiraishin kunai from it. He then held it in front of Kushina.

"I know I've asked a million times before," he said.

"I've been thinking about it," Kushina admitted. "And actually, I came up with something better."

Minato withdrew the kunai and looked questioningly at her while she gently placed his arm on the bed. She then lifted her top up to expose her stomach, and activated her chakra so the black seal was visible.

"You could draw it in, couldn't you?" she asked.

Minato nodded.

"But," Kushina said sternly and held up a forefinger. "No creeping. I know who trained you."

He gave her the most innocent look he owned, but she didn't seem convinced.


	32. The Final Judgement

**I'm back from holidays! Sorry it took a bit longer to get this chapter submitted - I could have had it submitted before I left, but it would have been written in a rush, and that rarely turns out any good.**

* * *

**32. The Final Judgement**

Kushina had been discovered once the subordinates of Danzou had returned from their break while she was bandaging Minato's arm, and had been kicked out of his hospital room. But not before she had leaned in and whispered three words in his ear.

By the time the general had come by to visit, Minato's mood had raised significantly.

"What're you so happy about?" the general asked in genuine confusion as he entered the room.

Minato, who had been lying in his bed, staring at the roof with an expression of happiness and total relaxation, was driven out of his thoughts.

"Hm?" he said and sat up, slightly more carefully than last time. "Oh, nothing."

"Right," the general replied, deciding not to comment that Minato should be anything but happy right now. "Danzou has scheduled our departure for tonight. How're your injuries?"

"Better," Minato replied. "My ribs are healed, and I guess I can walk. Haven't tried."

"You better walk," the general sighed, quickly going through some papers in his hands. "Danzou's patience has gone sort of thin lately. But don't worry, Hokage-sama will sort things out once we get back to the village."

Minato nodded, trying not to smile too much. The sensation that had spread through his whole body ever since Kushina left the room hadn't faded at all, and worrying seemed such a faraway feel to him that he was convinced he'd be able to get past any upcoming hindrance; by jumping over it, walking around it, or the harder effort of crushing his way through it, he would either way be able to do so. Simply because of the smile on his face.

"Anyway, Danzou's tightened the security around this room," the general continued, ignoring Minato's inconvenient cheeriness. "Mostly because that girl managed to get in here. Wasn't according to his plan. Here -" he handed Minato some of the papers, "- details about the case on you. You've got the right to know, so I asked to deliver them to you directly. It's not all that bad, I just think Danzou's overreacting."

"That's an understatement," Minato commented after seeing the large stamp across the page that contained general information about him. The ink was red, and had been pressed onto the paper with determination worthy of praise; not a single letter was unclear.

"Don't worry," the general repeated. "Just because you've been reported doesn't mean Danzou alone can decide what will become of you."

Minato sighed.

"Well, I have to go," the general continued, checking his wrist watch. "Gotta fill in some reports. I'll come pick you up later."

He then left Minato with the few masked guardians and the papers in his hand. Minato looked down at the large stamp again, and let out a small, frustrated sigh.

He had never thought his papers would be marked with a shining, red _missing-nin: under conviction_.

Yet his worries had long since faded, and he found himself smiling again.

* * *

They left later that evening, after Minato had received one last treatment by the medic-nin. He was pretty sure the walking would do no good for his leg, and he had to admit he looked even worse than he felt; the lack of fresh clothes had forced him to wear his blood-stained ones, and despite his new, relaxed posture, both his body and mind was tired. As he left the emergency hut, kept on a good long distance from the others and surrounded by the strange ANBU, passers-by dropped their jaws at the sight of him; very few who knew his name - and there were plenty of those - had seen him injured before.

Though in the long run, the trip back to Konoha wasn't as bad as Minato had predicted. It seemed that Danzou was satisfied with finally being on the last road back, and even though Minato for most of the walk was unable to talk to anyone, the breaks along the way were plenty. Juukai insisted on checking up on his leg more often than what was really necessary, but Minato knew it was only to keep him company, and had no complaints about it either.

He also appreciated the fact that both Danzou and his subordinates looked alarmed by his perfectly happy mood.

Though as the sun rose once more and they could see the large gates of Konoha in the distance, Minato realized what he was really about to face. He was to be evaluated by the Hokage himself for suspected criminal behavior, which could go one way or the other; if the general was right, he would be set free the moment he crossed the doorstep of Konoha, simply because the Hokage would be fair that way. But how much did the Hokage really trust him? Minato had been successful more than often with the most twisted missions, and had often had compliments from the Hokage about his services to the village. He could also say he was on pretty good speaking terms with the man. But not only Minato was a loyal shinobi to him, there were plenty of men who had earned the Kage's trust. How much did the man really trust when it came to sorting out the truly honest ones?

Plus – and he had actually not given it a single thought until now, which gave him a knot in the chest – a certain silver-haired ten-year-old boy would be worse than displeased with his sensei. Kakashi had of principle followed every single order he was given without intervention or complaint, and he had a disliking for people who would go against any orders given.

He guessed he had some explaining to do later.

* * *

"Reported missing-nin, huh?"

The Hokage looked down at the papers Danzou had handed him earlier. To Minato's relief the only ones in the interrogation room were the two of them, the general and only a few trusted ANBU; on the other hand, Danzou had been sent off with the Hokage's councilors. Minato was pretty sure the process of his case would take longer just because of the chance Danzou had to pull the councilors over to his side.

Minato had already given his explanation, followed by the general's. It was quiet while the third read every written detail – each of them Danzou's own words – and after a while, an eyebrow rose. He looked up at Minato for just a moment, and something flashed across the Kage's face so quickly that Minato was sure he had imagined it at first.

Amusement.

"Well, this is a most unexpected event," the third said, his voice deep and serious again. "I can say so much now – the rules were made by my predecessors for cases such as these – there has to be an investigation of the matter. First of all, the students of the general's brother, the general himself, the others involved – and of course, Kushina – their witness will be taken into account. That process alone will take some time. I will have to consult with my councilors before any action is taken, and there has to be guards at all time."

The Hokage put the papers down and reached out for his smoking pipe, frown visible on his face.

"It seems a lot is to be taken into account, yet the deciding of the fate of missing-nin rarely seem to taken any time at all. As far as I can remember, there hasn't been one reported missing-nin I haven't convicted to immediate death without so much as a morning's thought."

He observed Minato, eyes piercing as though they were looking right through his skin; the words he had spoken were already reason enough to worry without being glared down. Yet the single tug on the corner of the third's lips Minato had seen earlier was enough make him wonder if he was playing games with him.

"Missing-nin become missing-nin when they commit serious crime and flee. And because they leave traces behind that are easy to follow. The crimes are consciously conducted, and more than often does the missing-nin not mind being known for his stand-point. There seems to be a few cords missing in this case."

The third went quickly through the papers again.

"As far as I can tell, no serious crime is committed. No clear proof of wrong intentions, and you did come voluntarily back to the village." He put down the papers again. "Yet the process has to be made. Forgive Danzou; he takes his work seriously."

Minato was eager to know just what kind of position Danzou had in ANBU, but felt that asking would be pushing his luck. So he kept quiet.

"You'll be watched at all times by ANBU I select until any suspicion is erased. Other than that, you're free to roam the village and visit Kushina as much as you like. Or she likes. I'm sure she won't mind, at least if the rumors I hear about the two of you are true."

At this, the Kage couldn't help but show a clear sign of amusement on his otherwise professionally serious face.


	33. One Layer Only

**I was sure summer would mean more time to write.**

**(I was wrong.)**

* * *

**33. One Layer Only**

Minato glanced at the palm of his healthy hand. An idea had planted itself so deep inside his head he felt obsessed with it. First of all, he had only one hand to fight with if he had to, momentarily. Up til now he was depending on both hands if he needed to make any techniques; he had his weapons as well, but they were often less powerful and effective as a blast of charka, especially if he had to use his only hand to block. This had made him realize he should look up one-handed techniques. The problem was, though: few techniques required only one hand, and a limited number of people was able to use a wider variety due to genes. Minato had no such genes. But his main obsession was something bigger.

It was true it would become a handy technique if he ever figured out how to make it. No seals, one hand. Or, as in the case he had seen it being used: out of the mouth of a monster.

After the accident in Earth, Minato had barely had time to take a look at the details of the scene he had witnessed. He had been occupied getting Kushina out of the ruins, trying to get back on Konoha's good side (which, in the end, proved to be quite easy) and contemplating what on earth he was going to tell Kakashi once he saw him again. But now, locked up in a hospital room, it was too early in the morning to be worrying about ten year old boys and people he was still on friendly terms with. Instead, the picture of the large, swirling mass of deadly chakra had floated before him ever since he woke up.

It wasn't hard to get the basics. It was just a massive amount of chakra focused at one point at the same time, controlled to form the shape of a ball. It was doing it that was the problem, and by the time the medic-nin came by with his breakfast, he had already spent half his chakra trying to shape the mass pouring out of his hand.

He was so focused as the sun rose higher on the sky that he didn't even notice the girl who entered the room.

"What's that?" Kushina asked as the chakra mass again made a small explosive sound and disappeared.

"Oh, hey," Minato said. "I'm trying out a new idea."

"Is it working?" she asked conversationally.

"No."

Kushina, who had been busy taking her jacket off and hanging it over the back of a chair, turned in surprise. She had grown used to watching Minato succeed every technique and style he had come across and tried.

"No?" she repeated.

"Nope."

Minato tried to collect the mass of chakra in his palm again, which at first poured out as a glowing, blue light, but grew into a miniature hurricane as he lost control of the circulation.

He turned to Kushina, who actually looked worried; but despite having never failed in finishing a technique or idea before, he didn't feel as let down as she had the impression he would, he felt that he had finally found something of a challenge.

"I just have to work on it," he smiled and sat up.

"What sort of idea is it?" Kushina asked, worry blown away the moment he had smiled.

"You really wanna know?" Minato asked back; it was, after all, the monster she contained who had performed the destructive power which had given him the idea.

Kushina looked at him for a moment, but seemed to know what he was thinking.

"You saw the Tailed Beast Bomb, didn't you?" she eventually asked.

"So that's what it's called?"

"And you're trying to recreate it?"

"Basically," Minato said nervously.

"Well, be careful," Kushina sighed. "That building didn't collapse of nothing."

She gave him a reassuring smile, but Minato had the impression she only thought he would never be able to recreate such a massive form of chakra.

It made him even more eager.

* * *

Kushina had gone off on a short mission, and Minato was soon to be released from the hospital room. It was a relief to know he was able to go back to Jiraiya's place by the end of the day, but Minato hadn't seen it coming that the general was visiting with news.

Minato had been leaning against the window sill, fresh air coming through the window and hitting him lightly in the face, when the door knocked and the general paced in before he got an answer. He sat down on the same chair Kushina had been in a few hours earlier, and motioned for Minato to sit down on the bedside. So he did.

"I found out about the woman who had ordered the attack on you," the general said, handing Minato a file on a sour-looking, dark-haired woman. "She was in charge of the protection of the factory you were searching, though it was mainly to get her hands on the people she needed for a job like this. Of course, she was blown in pieces, so we couldn't really get anything out of her ..."

Minato looked at the woman's name. _Heihachi Akane._

"I've seen that surname somewhere ..." Minato said.

"You have," the general said and handed him another file. "Remember this guy?"

The man on the picture was young, with light hair and an arrogant posture. It hit Minato that he had indeed fought against someone who came out as a small brat, and he realized who it was as soon as he noticed the golden, glowing necklace around the neck.

"That's the Genjutsu Master," Minato said. "Toru. That time Ame sent one hell of an ambush on me, right?"

"That's the one," the general said. "He's Akane's brother. Originally they were both from Earth, but he moved to Ame to join Hanzou while he was still young. Brilliant mind."

"Brat ..." Minato said, more to himself. The general snorted.

"Apparently, Akane was furious when she found out both he and their father were dead. She also found out you were responsible."

Minato blinked. "Their father?"

"Hanzou's bodyguard."

It dawned on Minato that the bodyguard had actually looked very similar to Toru, with the light hair and the gray eyes.

"She made a plan of attack to get revenge," the general finished. "And hired a bunch of shinobi from Iwagakure to help. She was going to do the honors of delivering your head to Hanzou." The general snorted and got up. "As if … It wasn't exactly she who got you into this state."

Minato handed back the files, and as the general said his goodbyes and closed the door, he let out a sigh.

* * *

Minato was sitting propped up against some large cushions on the porch on the backside of the house when Kushina came home, tired and content. Normally, with a new idea fresh in his mind, he would be practicing, looking up anything that could help and spending every last piece of chakra he could spare in the attempt to finish it. But something had halted him, something that wouldn't stop troubling his head.

"How's the idea going?" Kushina asked as she slid open the door and stepped out onto the lamp lit porch. She had changed from her normal attire to one of his t-shirts (which was rather large for her) and a pair of cotton shorts.

Minato only shrugged, not sure how he was supposed to explain what troubled him. Kushina crouched next to him, but when he continued to stare out in the distance with a thoughtful mind, she waved a hand in front of his face.

"You in there?"

"I'm here," Minato said, shifting his gaze from a highly uninteresting branch on a tree to her bemused face.

"What's the matter? I thought you'd be lying half dead on the ground of exhaustion by now."

Minato thought for a moment.

"You know, that woman who had you kidnapped," he started. "She was trying to get revenge on me. Looks like I killed both her brother and her father. And this," he said, raising his hand and filling it with an uncontrolled stream of chakra. "Is supposed to be for destruction." The chakra exploded, sending a wave of warm air to their faces. Minato was beginning to become frustrated. "It doesn't do anything helpful. It doesn't save anyone, heal anyone or stop anyone from killing and spreading hate against each other. Just the fact that I killed someone's father and brother without the intention of hurting anyone else resulted in you being kidnapped and almost killed and the Kyuubi being exposed and almost taken, which could have resulted in war. If I manage to finish this technique, it'll only kill more people and start more conflicts -"

Kushina had suddenly grabbed his face, her hands warm and soft yet firm against his cheeks.

"And what good will you be as a Hokage if you only have techniques that heal people?" she asked.

Minato blinked. "What?"

"Isn't that your dream? To become Hokage and save the world and all that?"

"Well, yeah, but -"

"I'm telling you this; you alone won't be able to keep conflicts at hold, not when thousands of other people keep using destructive techniques. Sometimes killing is inevitable, and I know that you know this already – but there will _always _be some nuthead out there who'll never be affected by peace talk, and you'll need something to keep that guy away when it's your time to protect this village. You understand this, right?"

She looked intensely into his eyes, but Minato had only one question he needed answered - images of a small, round-cheeked, red-haired girl shouting out her bold ambitions with her fist in the air popped up in his mind.

"I thought you were going to become Hokage?" he said, unable to keep the smile off his face.

Kushina raised an eyebrow.

"With you as my contestant?" she replied. "Really, I think it's clear who beats who in this race. Besides, you need someone to keep you on track, and I'll happily be that person."

Minato smiled.

"So," Kushina said sternly, leaning in so close that he could no longer see the trees behind her. "No more whining, you've got a job to do."

"Right," Minato grinned, and with an arm sneaking around her back he pulled her as close to him as was possible. She had one knee on the wooden ground and was forced to shift the other one halfway across his lap for support, but had no time to think about how she was supposed to sit before he had closed the space between their faces. Another arm sneaked around her back when she responded to the kiss, and eventually, when none of them seemed to want to stop, Kushina shifted slowly until she was sitting on top of him, arms around his neck. They had never been this physically close to each other before, and Minato had difficulties trying to keep out of his head exactly _where she was sitting_; though he thought it safe to slide one hand underneath her shirt, seeing the same had happened the last time, only she had been the one to make the move then. He would have happily slid the other one further down, but was far too afraid of her reaction to do so; he found it safer to find out how far she was willing to go before he took thoughts into action. But he allowed himself the tiniest delight of her bare legs brushing against his and the fact that with her body more and more pressed up against his as the kissing intensified, he could feel that there were no more layers hiding her underneath the thin, gray t-shirt.

* * *

**If you're wondering who I was talking about or just don't remember, Toru was first mentioned in chapter 3, when Minato was still 13, and appeared later in chapter 7. The bodyguard was only mentioned in chapter 4.**


	34. Five Hours of Sleep

**34. Five Hours of Sleep**

_They had woken up next morning in the same bed they had left before Minato's mission; Kushina still dressed in the t-shirt and shorts, Minato dressed in a pair of sweat pants only. It had taken them some time to move from the porch to the bed – at least an hour – but not before Minato had made an attempt in shifting his hand further down on Kushina's back. To this, Kushina had simply given him something of a smirk and called him a perv._

_To which Minato had nothing to counter with._

_Minato had naturally woken up earlier than Kushina. He usually woke up earlier than most; it was the same for the other comrades he had shared tents with at the border for five years. Being so close to where the conflicts at war happened usually ended up with few hours sleep each night, and it had become a sad habit of his to wake up five hours after he went to bed, automatically alert and his first thought being to grab the kunai he had kept on his nightstand._

_It was annoying, having to reassure himself every time he woke up that nothing was wrong. But the nagging feeling was hard to shake off, and he rarely got more sleep. So while Kushina continued to breathe deeply and steadily in her sleep next to him, he lay quite still, listening._

* * *

Minato was sitting on the railings following the river he usually met his team by, scratching the back of his head with a sigh. In front of him stood a young boy, whose silver hair was shining impressively in the sun.

The rest of the boy were in no such mood.

After Minato had explained the situation he had been in, Kakashi had refused to say a single thing. Instead, he had looked sideways at the road with a gloomy expression that could have given childhood Kushina a good run for her money.

"Come on, Kakashi," Minato said, tired of trying to get the boy to listen. "You're a smart kid. You would've done the same thing."

The boy continued to stare at anything but him, now finding the spot where one of the two ANBU who trailed Minato had hidden. It made Minato slightly frustrated. This boy was more difficult to talk to than any of the girlfriends he had heard others complain about; in fact, at some point, something had gone wrong and given Kakashi the traits of what Minato had originally learned would belong to a displeased, stubborn girl.

Whatever Jiraiya had taught him about angry women, he was sure Kushina was a lot more reasonable and easier to deal with than this boy.

"Kakashi, if I hadn't done what I did we might've been at war by now," Minato explained.

"I thought we were going to war either way," Kakashi replied sourly, finally chancing a look at his sensei.

"Not this soon," Minato said, trying to keep his voice calm. "We need all the time we can get to prepare, because we're a lot weaker than our enemies."

Minato kept his posture, but something inside him stung at the word _enemies_. Ever since the woman from Earth had tried to get revenge on him, it had dawned on Minato more and more that if they kept going like this, Konoha would always be at war and never get out of the weak state they were in.

"The Kyuubi could have fallen into the wrong hands," Minato continued. "And would have become a dangerous weapon against us. That's the last thing we need. And no, Kakashi -" he interrupted when Kakashi opened his mouth, "- I wasn't disobeying orders from the Hokage himself. I was given advice that under the circumstances were disguised as orders due to pressure. There were no official orders given and I was free to decide. My rank and loyalty to the Hokage gives me the privileges to do what I think best. Had the mission failed or had my intentions been wrong, then of course I would have been reported and thrown in jail."

"I thought you were reported?" Kakashi said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, but there hasn't been any bigger investigations. I was free to go as soon as I got back."

Kakashi eyed him for a moment, but they had gone somewhat milder, as though he was reconsidering something; Minato decided to take advantage of that moment, thinking Kakashi could have a bigger chance of agreeing.

"Which means," Minato said carefully. "I did something right."

Kakashi considered what he had heard.

"So the Hokage is not mad at you?" he asked.

"Nope," Minato replied. "I'm still taking the same missions as before."

Something shined in Kakashi's eyes, like he had just seen an opportunity. "Can I join?"

Minato was not sure if he wanted to sigh or laugh. Kakashi had been bored with the missions their team had been hired for ever since they returned from the North, and had apparently figured out Minato was willing to do quite a list to get back on his good side.

"We'll see."

"I helped you out tracking."

"Yes, Kakashi, but think about Rin and Obito."

"They'll be fine with us."

"It's more complicated than that."

"But you know I can do it."

Minato looked sternly at the boy. "We'll see, all right?"

Kakashi looked grumpy again. Unfortunately, Minato knew just how Kakashi felt. He too had been more skilled than his teammates, and therefore been forced to do missions too easy for him.

"I'll talk to the Hokage, but I can't promise anything," he sighed, and watched how Kakashi's eyes lit up. "But don't tell Rin and Obito anything before we know what's going to happen. I need your word on it."

"All right," Kakashi said, cowering slightly under the suddenly stern and somewhat cold look Minato gave him. "I won't tell them."

"Good," Minato said, softening up. "Let's go meet the other two."

He jumped down from the railings, and in silence, they walked down the path towards a bridge they had agreed upon meeting by. Minato could feel Kakashi's eyes on his back as they walked; he knew he had behaved differently than he used to. He had always been authoritative with his team, but had never acted so cold towards any of them before.

But even though he had his reasons for being skeptical of letting his two Genin on an A-ranked mission, he decided not to share them with Kakashi just yet.

* * *

The end of the day had come quicker than Minato had hoped for. The last streaks of the red sunlight broke through the leaves and passed the house walls, making him squint every time he stepped out of shaded grounds.

He and his team had spent hours on the training field, perfecting everything Minato could think of before they would start learning techniques of higher levels. Kakashi had – though Minato had thought it impossible at first – tried harder than ever to show Minato just how good he had become. Minato did not complain on Kakashi's sudden urge to show off, though, 'cause somehow, it made Obito try even harder. All in all, the day had turned out great, and his mood had raised significantly.

The rest of the day had gone to a quick shower, a quicker dinner and a hasty run to the Hokage's office. He was glad he met Kushina at the door on his way out; a very tired, soiled and grumpy Kushina, who he had at the last second given her a rushed, yet intense kiss, told her he loved her with a wide smile and ran off, leaving her slightly dumbfounded in the hallway.

Though now, with a map in his hands and four sets of speaking devices in his pocket, he found himself standing in front of a gaping, black hole, not sure if he should jump over it or walk around it. He cursed himself for giving in to Kakashi's wish to join the search of the missing children along with the rest of the team, but knew there was no turning back. He had promised Kakashi he'd speak to the Hokage, and he'd been granted his permission.

Due to the lack of time, he had asked one of the ANBU who trailed him to find his team and tell them to meet up; at which the bear-masked ANBU had actually nodded and set off, and the Hokage had given him a discreet wink with a sly smirk and shooed him out of the office so he could get the day's paperwork done before dinner.

Minato met his little team of soldiers by the same bridge as always after having changed into his regular attire whenever he was on missions. Rin and Obito looked quite puzzled, while Kakashi was having a hard time not looking too eager. It was clear that they had figured out that Kakashi knew something; Obito and Kakashi was having a highly audible argument.

"Break it down, you two," Minato said as he approached the noisy kids.

"Hey, sensei," Obito said, ignoring the scolding look Minato was giving them. "What's going on?"

"You're signed up for a mission," Minato said, trying not to let the bitterness inside him show. "You begin tomorrow. It's a long-term mission where you'll be sent in and out of the village, mainly for searching and gathering information."

He crouched on the ground and spread out the large map. The three kids sat down as well.

"Your task is regarding the missing children," Minato continued as he handed out speaking devices. "For now limited to the missing children of our country."

"But, sensei," Rin began while she grabbed the device held out for her. "Isn't this an A-ranked mission?"

"Yep," Minato nodded. "Which is why you two -" he pointed at Obito and Rin, "- will be following a Jounin at every time, not necessarily me."

"Why not you?" Obito asked.

"Because I'll be out of the country sometimes," he replied. "And I'm not letting any of you three out of the Fire Country until you've all become Chuunin."

He found a red marker in his pocket and drew a large circle on the map.

"This is the area you'll be stationed at tomorrow," Minato said. "We've detected barriers there, so there might be information to gather from there. We'll be going together and report back to the Hokage when we've cleared the whole area. We'll then receive new orders for the next day once all the reports are handed in, and that's basically how it goes."

He placed the lid back on the marker, and looked at the three of them with the most serious expression he could muster.

"Once it's limited to this country, the mission becomes more B-ranked than A-ranked, even though the official rank is A," he explained. "But listen, you three. In a mission like this, things can turn around sooner than we think. I appreciate that you'll be getting this experience, especially since you'll be training for the Chuunin exams, but this is dangerous. I want you to take this seriously and do what you're told. And I need you all to _focus, Obito_ – I need you to keep your guard up at all times." He looked at Obito, who swallowed; he was the one in the team who lost his concentration the quickest. "You have no idea how hard it is for me to let the three of you out there."

The three went silent. They had had a growing eagerness inside them, but now, they looked more uncertain.

"But, sensei," Kakashi said hesitatingly. "If we're only in this country, and they're with Jounin … I mean, I know this is serious -"

"Nothing's gonna happen, right?" Obito finished for him. He too had noticed the way Minato had turned colder. "You wouldn't have signed us up for this if we couldn't do it, right?"

"I don't doubt you, Obito," Minato said genuinely. "I don't doubt any of you. But remember what I'm about to tell you, all right?"

He leaned against the railings separating him from the silent, cold river. He wasn't sure why, but he felt anxious. He hadn't talked about this for many, many years.

"When I was only a year older than you are now, I was in a different team," he began. "I had my own sensei and two teammates. It was a team quite similar to our team nine. We had a sensei who wanted to make us the best, and the three of us had worked hard for over a year. Though I had started training under Jiraiya earlier than them, before I graduated, because my skills – I'm not going to be modest – improved a lot faster than the other kids' at the Academy. So when we all graduated and became a team, I was already ahead of them with what Jiraiya called several years. But I too joined the D-ranked missions, and every now and then I was allowed to join Jiraiya on more difficult ones. I couldn't take the Chuunin exam without them, so I had to wait, but that was fine by me, since I had already taken a few B-ranked missions as a Genin. But the other two eventually became frustrated that they didn't get to do the same missions as I sometimes did. And in the end, that resulted in a team that was about to break in half. So Jiraiya talked to the Hokage and was assigned a light B-ranked mission with his team. We headed out to find information in the Wind. Though when we were about to turn and head back to Konoha, an ambush hit us."

Minato sighed, drew a hand through his hair and started tampering with the marker.

"Had they been few, everything would have turned out fine. But earlier that day, several shinobi of Suna had gathered near the border to go back to their village in a large group because they were carrying a lot of things." His voice was turning more bitter, but he forced himself to sit calmly. "They were too many to keep the situation under control. I hadn't learned the Hiraishin technique yet, so I couldn't move as fast as I'm able to now."

He tossed the marker lightly onto the map, still spread out on the ground between them, and supported his arms on his knees.

"The Hokage knows this, right?" Rin asked quietly.

Minato nodded.

"Then why's he allowing us to go?"

Minato could suddenly not help but feel a sting of pride in his chest. "Because he knows how good you are."

The three – Kakashi as well – were surprised by this.

"And I do, too," Minato continued. "Otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to sign you up for this. But remember what I told you -" he looked seriously at them again, "- and don't take this lightly. I know you have a knack of getting on each others' nerves, so I'm ordering you to cooperate better than ever. Is that clear?"

The three of them nodded determinedly. Obito even added by saying, "We won't disappoint you, sensei."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear," Minato said and got up. "Now hurry off, you'll need all the sleep you can get."

And so they parted, Minato heading off to get another five hours worth of sleep.


	35. Bitten Necks and Rushing Blood

**Poor Minato. He never gets to do his Rasen Senkou Chou Rinbu Kousan Shiki.**

**(Naruto ch. 641)**

_- Lana Del Rey: "Blue Jeans" (Born to Die)_

* * *

**35. Bitten Necks and Rushing Blood**

The fourteenth of February was for many people spent on cafés, restaurants or spots in the parks. For Minato, he had forgotten such a date meant something different than any other days of the year until he walked out of the door and passed the many men buying flowers from the Yamanaka flower shop and boxes of chocolate from the local. He made a mental note to buy something for Kushina as well when he got back from the mission outside the village, but had quickly managed to forget and ignore the ruckus around him.

To him, Valentine's day had been nothing but a meaningless set-up – and he had probably received more chocolate than any girl could ever dream of.

He avoided the main streets, moving to the quieter, less crowded branches of Konoha. A chilly February breeze sneaked through the streets, sending goosebumps up his skin. Their team would usually meet up by the same bridge whenever they had missions, but they had agreed to meet by the front gate this time, seeing as they were going with several Chuunin as well. Minato failed to express well enough just how glad he was to be in charge of the mission, what with two Genin strolling along with them; somehow, it made him think everything would go easier as long as he didn't have to ask for permission to do anything, but just do whatever he felt best at once. Yet the anxious feeling that had appeared the day before when he spoke to his team had yet to disappear.

He sighed and looked up at the rustling leaves. He had always preferred the warmth.

* * *

After registering their leave and estimated time of return, the company of eleven shinobi picked up whatever possessions they had put down and turned to leave the village. Minato only pulled the sleeves of his jacket up, finally feeling the sun having its effect on him. With one last look at Kakashi, Obito and Rin, who looked anxiously back, he announced take-off and led five Chuunin, three Jounin and two Genin through the gates.

The walk was long enough. The Fire Country was large, and as they headed North-East, they realized just how large it really was. It was well past mid-day when Minato could sense the barriers that had been detected earlier, and as the barriers drew closer, he stopped and signalled for the three Jounin to step forward.

"You were here when these barriers were discovered, am I right?" Minato asked a tall, dark-haired man who looked like he wanted nothing more than to go back to bed. But that might just have been his appearances.

"That's right," the Jounin said drowsily, continuing as he understood what Minato was after. "We used disclosure techniques to make it easier to find today. We've also done some analyzes, and we're not sure how to break it because the barrier's completely strange to us, but we've prepared a few ways."

Minato nodded his approval and stepped aside to let the three Jounin do their job.

"How come it's difficult to break something we know's there?" Obito asked, both he and Rin coming closer as the Jounin began to perform different sets of seals.

"Because we don't know the structure of the barrier," Minato explained, watching closely as well. "Once you know the foundation, you can make the appropriate force to break through it."

"So it's a lot like poison and antidotes?" Rin said.

Minato smiled. "Yep."

It took well over fifteen minutes before the three Jounin managed to force their way through the barrier. There was a flash of blue light where their hands touched the invisible structure, and the barrier started to crack up.

"Huh," Minato said, observing how the cracks quickly spread and shattered the barrier. "I've never seen a barrier physically break ..."

"It's not a barrier used by Konoha shinobi, that's for sure," the female Jounin said with a serious expression. "I've never seen anything like it."

The small pieces of the barrier fell to the ground like crystals, making the grass glitter in various colors. Minato walked forward, carefully treading on the remains of the barrier. It broke underneath him like glass.

"Well, now that's done, let's continue," Minato said. "Obito, Rin, Kakashi, keep close to me."

As the three hurried to catch up, Minato crouched and spread out the same map he had shown them the day before, only now, the circled area was split up in different sections. The other ten shinobi crouched around him to study the map.

"Haruka, Kiri and Juukai," Minato said, looking up at the three young Chuunin and pointing at the section they were currently in. "Search this area. Nana –" he looked at the female Jounin, who stood with a brown-haired Chuunin, "- area two. That leaves area three for you –" he looked at the drowsy Jounin and his Chuunin companion, "- and Kakashi, you'll be going with Irino to area four."

He folded the map and stood up.

"Report back here when you're done. If it's urgent, don't wait for me, but send me a clone and get back to the Hokage as soon as possible."

The ten shinobi nodded, and Minato signalled for everyone to start.

* * *

They had spent the last hour walking, unable to find anything worth separating from the rest of the world with a barrier. Minato was starting to get slightly frustrated by the fact that this might be the second time he was sent to find children in an area that had nothing to do with them, especially after hearing Kakashi announce on the speaking device that they had cleared area four and was heading back to their start position.

"Why would someone put up a barrier without something to hide?" Rin asked from where she was walking fifteen feet away.

"It might be an old barrier, few walk here these days," Minato said, turned to Obito, and shouted, "Obito! Don't walk too far off."

Obito turned and said something that could distantly sound like, "yeah, yeah …", but had not taken more than one step before his body fell through the ground.

"Obito!" Minato shouted and set off in a sprint towards the place where Obito had disappeared, Rin squealing and following. He slowed down and grabbed Rin before she could run past him, approached the hole carefully, girl shivering anxiously behind him.

Suddenly, two hands appeared, and Obito hoisted himself up enough so they could see the large grin on his face.

"Sensei, I found something," he said eagerly. "Get down here."

Rin let out a relieved sigh, and Minato looked down the hole where Obito had fallen through. There was a room down there, a dark, gray and smouldering room. The floor, walls and roof were of wood which had with time started to rot, some places worse than others.

"Seems like you found a weak spot," Minato said. "Good job, Obito."

Despite not having actually discovered the place on purpose, Obito smiled and dropped himself down again. Minato waved for Rin to follow and jumped down himself.

Straightening up, he saw he stood in the midst of a lab room. There were tables along the walls where most of the possessions one would normally find in a lab had been removed, except from those items that were broken or otherwise useless. There were two sinks, green of algae, and glass cupboards containing only dust.

"This hasn't been used in some time," Obito said quite unnecessarily, wiping dust off a table with his forefinger. Minato placed a thumb on the wall and activated a bit of chakra. Closing his eyes, he could picture the rest of the lab from the doors leading from the room they were in.

"It's huge," he finally said. "It goes a long way out of this area. Everything is within the barrier, of course."

"Let's find out more," Obito said eagerly. "Are there anyone else here?"

"Nope," Minato said, removing his hand from the wall. "Seems like the others have returned to area one. But don't enter any rooms without my permission."

With some power, he managed to open another door, which seemed to have grown to the walls. The room was larger, containing empty cages. It was too dark for them to see anything else; the lights, unsurprisingly, didn't work, and the hole in the roof didn't provide much light to the other rooms.

They searched several other rooms, but were unable to see much. In the end, it was so dark they could not even see themselves.

"We'll report back to the Hokage," Minato said, turning and almost crashing into Obito. "We won't find out anything when the rooms are so dark."

They left the abandoned lab. There had been no children there, they had figured as much, but the lab was nevertheless worth investigating.

"There might be more clues down there," Minato said as they followed the path they had came from. "I doubt it, since it seems to have been abandoned many years ago, but we didn't exactly get to see all of it."

"Can we join you then?" Rin asked. She too had become more eager, and confident, about the mission.

"Of course you can," Minato said, smiling of how their dedication reminded him so much of himself as a young boy.

* * *

When they returned to the village, Minato soon figured out there was no use trying to avoid the annoyingly sweet couples running from café to restaurant to somewhere else he preferred to not know. The long journey had made him tired and hungry, and despite having thought about buying something for Kushina, the idea didn't seem so tempting anymore. Besides, he was pretty sure Kushina would be more happy about a bowl of salt ramen than a box of sweets. And he may have bought her takeaway if it hadn't been for the long queue outside Ichiraku's.

After choosing the house roofs as his path home, he finally entered the hallway in Jiraiya's house, took his shoes, jacket, weapon pouches and swords off and stretched in a bone-cracking manner. It was only then he noticed the smell of food coming from the kitchen.

Upon entering, he saw Kushina sitting by the table, reading a newspaper with a bored mine.

"Oh, hey," she said as he entered. "There's food on the stow if you're hungry."

Minato, who had been eating quick, half-hearted dinners or takeaway for the past year, was genuinely surprised of how good food could smell. He peered down a large sauce pan, finding slices of pork, cooked vegetables and noodles.

"I didn't know you cooked," Minato said, giving Kushina a surprised look as he poured food in a bowl.

"Had to do something while the rest of you were at war," she said bitterly, but watched in anticipation as Minato picked up a piece of pork and ate it. Whatever he had expected, it was nothing like this; the pork was perfectly cooked, tender and with such a good flavour he suddenly doubted he'd ever eaten actual pork before. But then again, he was used to rations.

"Is it all right?" Kushina asked as he sat down and chose a few vegetables.

"All right?" Minato repeated incredulously through a mouthful of vegetable. "This is great, Kushina. You should do this every day."

She was unable to hide how pleased she was that he liked her food, and beamed as she returned to the newspaper.

"I kinda missed some actual home-made food," she admitted.

"Same," Minato managed to say before his mouth was stuffed with more food. He had actually not had regularly home-made cooking since his father was alive.

After two rounds, his hunger was finally satisfied, and he leaned back in his chair and let out a content sigh. Kushina put down her newspaper and drew her chair closer to him.

"So," Kushina said with such a fake sweet voice and falsely battering eyelashes that Minato had to raise an eyebrow. "Did you get me anything?"

"I'm terribly sorry, Kushina," Minato said, faking a regretful voice. "But I hate Valentine's day."

Kushina grinned and got up, walked over to the kitchen bench and rummaged inside a plastic bag.

"I remember how all the girls used to have these loud arguments about who would get to spend the day with you," she said, sounding as though the memory, which was in reality quite painful to Minato, entertained her. "And then take it in turns to walk up to you and try to invite you to the movies. I still remember how angry they were when you rejected them."

She turned with a pile of chocolate boxes in her hands. Minato groaned.

"Please tell me those are from you," he begged.

"Sorry, Minato," she said, placed the boxes on the table and sat down on his lap. "You've got quite a few admirers. And I hate Valentine's day as much as you do."

He buried his face in her shoulder and sighed.

"You're taking this surprisingly easy," he said, glancing at the boxes and dreading the names on the cards.

"Well," Kushina said, letting a hand stroke gently through his hair. "They're not really much of a threat, you know …"

Minato grinned and lifted his head from her shoulder to kiss her. And as they looked at each other, Minato brushing a few strands of hair away from her face, Kushina leaned in to kiss him again, slower this time.

Minato would have preferred to sit there the rest of the night with her, but he was stained in ten or more year old dirt and sweat and was quite sure she would appreciate it if he got cleaned up. So he broke the kiss, Kushina looking a bit disappointed.

"I should take a shower," he murmured, brushing hair away from her face again. Kushina didn't reply at first; she looked him in the eyes, a small smile tugging on the corners of her lips, much like the time when she was thinking about doing mischief. Minato only looked back, waiting for her to say something. Eventually, she bit her lower lip, as though unsure how to formulate words, but her eyes had adopted some sort of character he had never seen on her before; her eyes looked, what, foxy?

She leaned in closer, inches away from him, and mumbled, "Can I join?"

Minato understood the general meaning of her question, but tried at first to find any hidden meaning behind it; maybe she didn't mean it the way he thought – and hoped – she did. But his face slowly broke into a grin as he realized she had meant it exactly the way he thought.

His normal response to questions like these would have been "what?" – but it might have been his tired mind currently being unable to make things more complicated, or the fact that her question didn't really need more explanation, or the fact that Kushina was struggling to keep the mischievous smile off her face in the hope that she wouldn't look too hopeful; instead, he replied with a "sure," and held around her to transport them both to the bathroom, boxes of chocolate long forgotten.

He locked the door behind them, and was suddenly unsure how to proceed. But before he could in some way ask Kushina how she wanted to do this, she had sneaked two hands around his back and kissed him again. He felt her fingers closing around the edge of his mesh shirt and pull it up; they broke the kiss to get the shirt over his head, and Minato felt that the only natural thing was to do the same to her. So as carefully as he could, keeping a close watch for any signs that something he did was uncomfortable to her, he tied up the belt around her waist, slid the blouse off her shoulders and pulled her shirt off.

There was not much he hadn't seen on her already, except the fact that her breasts were, despite hidden behind a black bra, a lot more exposed to him now than before. Deciding to take it as slow as possible, he proceeded with her pants rather than the bra first, as she did the same. They stepped out of them as they slid to the floor, and he kept her close, arms around her, finding the clasp keeping her bra together.

And of all the difficult things he had done in his lifetime, nothing could be compared to this.

Kushina giggled as he struggled with the clasp, her fingers tugging on his boxers, but that went unnoticed by him.

"What the hell is this?" he complained, drawing her even closer so he could peer around her shoulders to get a look at it. Kushina only sniggered and started to pull down his boxers – he didn't mind, they were going off anyway, and besides, he was way too occupied to care. "Of all the things I've unlocked in this world, this is the biggest challenge I've met."

"Has to be pervert-proof, doesn't it," Kushina breathed. Minato wondered why her heart was suddenly beating so hard against his chest until he realized he was completely naked; and as though the tiny distraction had made the outcome, the clasp unlocked, and he could slide the bra off her shoulders. He let his hands slide down her back to the matching panties, and pulled down the last piece of cloth between them.

He tried not to look to hard – he gazed for a moment, understanding just how beautiful she was – and held a steady grip on her hips as he led her backwards into the shower.

They may have been the tiniest bit nervous, anxious maybe, and expectant, but it turned out to be the most entertaining shower Minato had ever had. First of all, Minato had been the last to use the shower, and almost always took ice cold showers to clear his head; as he turned on the water, Kushina made a funny squeal and jumped away from the water. It ended up in a struggle containing Minato's laughs and Kushina's punches as he tried to push her underneath the icy shower; eventually, she had accepted the challenge and stood shivering underneath the water constantly repeating the words "holy shit," while Minato held around her from behind, stroking her arms to provide some body heat.

"Okay, turn it up," Kushina said with a shivering laugh, and Minato reached for the crane. "I don't get how you stand this."

She leaned back against him as the water turned warmer, looking up at him with eyes full of anticipation. Minato suddenly felt the urge to run his hand down her flat stomach, hold them against her hips and slide them up again, take in every part of her soft skin. Apparently, Kushina was thinking along the same lines; she reached out for a bottle of shower gel, eyes never leaving his, and held it out to him. He tried not to smile like a boy on his birthday when he grabbed the bottle, poured some of the transparent gel into his hand and rubbed his hands together. He began exactly where he had pictured; his hands ran slowly down her stomach, and she closed her eyes and leaned against his shoulder, appreciating the soft touch of his normally rough, yet warm hands. He let them glide down her hips, before turning directions; while one held around her stomach, the other continued up. Kushina smiled a little when he hesitated, and blushed when one of her breasts filled his hand, and he gently, using the soap as his excuse, stroke it before attending to the other one. He spent longer time than necessary on them, and as his hands ran down her stomach again, the soap had long since been washed away from her body. This, however, did not keep him from steering his hand towards her legs, the touch of his hand so close to what was between that he felt her skin rough with goosebumps; one of her hands was leaning against the wall, the other against his leg, he could see her chest rising up and down as her breath barely picked up, and her lips were parted as she waited to see what he was going to do. And as Minato slowly, steadily kissed her from below the ear and down her neck, he found the courage to move his fingers from the top of her thigh to the soft, smooth skin between her legs, and she let out a small gasp.

She was tense, out of nervousness he presumed, which bothered him slightly. He knew she would let him know – in one way or another – if she felt uncomfortable with what was happening, but he wanted her to relax. So he kept his fingers still and focused on holding tightly around her, kissed her cheek and rested his head against it. She opened her eyes, turned her head slowly to look at him.

"You all right?" Minato murmured, looking with a hint of worry at her. She smiled, nodded and reached up to kiss him, and he felt her shoulders lower and her hand loosen its grip on his leg. He decided to leave it at that, not wanting to rush things more than needed, despite how fast the thoughts in his head were going and how much the blood in his body had rushed down.

They ended the shower like that and found towels to get dried up, but as Minato was about to reach for his clothes, Kushina gently pushed his arm away and closed in, kissing him as she pushed him out of the bathroom, and he kissed her back as he clumsily opened the door to the bedroom and was pushed down on the bed. They did their best to crawl further up on the bed while they were tangled up together, and lay side by side, Kushina's hand against his chest and one leg across his, Minato's hand resting on her hip as they made out like they never had before. As Minato contemplated whether or not it was safe to move his hand to the other side of her leg again she had grabbed it and led it there herself; Minato came to the conclusion that she hadn't been afraid of what was coming when he did it in the shower, she had just not known what to expect, and she seemed a lot more relaxed now than before. So he continued until she found it hard to kiss, and her breathing became small moans against his lips; and while he was at it, he gently pushed her on her back and leaned over her, kissed her down her body and dipped his head down between her legs; he stayed there until her chest rose up and down heavily, her hands clenched around the sheets and her thighs almost crushed his head as she gave in to the tingling feeling rising inside of her.

And just as he had lifted his head she had grabbed his hair and yanked him back to her face, and her other hand found its place on the lower parts of his back and pushed him down. He realized she wasn't done with just the one pleasure, she was craving for more, and only then did he start to get nervous; but all in all, he had no time to be nervous. There was no denying that he wanted it himself, especially as the girl underneath him was biting his neck and he felt it weirdly titillating and good, and he began to push.

* * *

**I mean, it's about the third or fourth time he's tried to use it, right? Seriously, if Kishimoto decides to let him use it, it better be good.**

**And that's a ridiculous name for a technique.**


	36. Words of a Perv

**I'm letting Kushina have some main character-time as well once in a while, just to have a different perspective on things. And on toads.**

* * *

**36. Words of a Perv**

_Kushina had only once woken up and seen him lying next to her in his sleep. That one time, he had slept over rather drunk at her old apartment and mistaken her bed for his own. She could barely remember how he looked like sleeping, but had to smile at how innocent and harmless he looked, when he was in truth nothing of the sort. She had to admit she _could _understand why girls became so infatuated with him without knowing him at all._

_He had always gotten up earlier than her; how early, she never knew, but she had nevertheless woken up alone, the curled sheets, quilt and slightly inwardly bulging pillow next to her the only proof he had slept there at all._

_Who knew _that _was all it took to make him sleep long enough._

_She would have stretched, curled up closer to him, maybe planted a soft kiss on his cheek, or stood up to make breakfast. Though as her eyes searched for the watch lying on Minato's nightstand, she found it hidden behind a large –_

"_Minato," she hissed, eyes large and hand shaking him rapidly._

"_Mm –" came a sound, and he mumbled something of another world._

"_Minato," she repeated. "There's a frog here."_

_As Minato opened his eyes and looked at her – something she could have stared at for hours, had the circumstances been slightly different – the 'frog' made an offended croak. He turned slowly to look for the source of the sound while Kushina drew the quilt further up to her chin, and his face broke into a smile._

"_Gama," he said, and to Kushina's minor astonishment the 'frog' replied back._

"_Hey there, Minato," Gama croaked. "I have a letter from Jiraiya."_

"_From sensei?" Minato said in surprise, sitting up. "How is he?"_

"_He's all right," Gama replied, turning to let Minato tie the letter off his back. "He's put himself in a weird situation, but he'll manage. Haven't seen him for a year myself so I was glad to see he's still up and going. Anyway, should be off. Good day to you."_

* * *

Minato turned to look at Kushina, who still kept her eyes on the bedside table with a slight frown on her face, even after Gama had disappeared.

"They don't like to be called frogs," Minato smiled apologetically while he rolled the letter out.

"Right," Kushina said, getting up to find fresh clothes from the cardboard boxes spread around the room. Minato allowed himself a few seconds of glancing at her before his eyes traveled back to the letter he held in his hands.

_Hey, kid._

_First of all, sorry I haven't written. I never thought I'd be away this long, but things have occured and I don't see any other option than to stay where I am. Don't worry, I'm not in a pinch or anything, I'm doing all right. Also, sorry if I had you worried when I never returned from the war. Wasn't badly injured, Tsunade fixed me up before they headed home._

_Anyway, I wish I could've spoiled more details, but I promise I'll tell you everything when I get home in a year or two. Also, please don't reply; Hanzou's in a bad mood and never stopped disliking you, so if he ever shows up and I need to explain myself, a letter from you in my pocket would be highly inconvenient. I know how you're doing, at least briefly; even news about you reach the wastelands of the Rain. Though I'm curious to see how you've grown since the war._

_Also, I have to do something about that house of mine. I guess you stayed there after the war, and either your honour has driven you out of there to find your own place or your slyness has finally caught up with you and you're using my empty house for your own gaining; anyway, either way is fine, but I can't keep a house I won't use anymore. Never really used it before, either. So I leave it all to you._

_Just keep in mind that I'll be taking some of the stuff with me when I get back, but probably not much. I mean, most of it are books, and you read them more than I do. Just don't throw anything away just yet._

_I'm afraid I can't say much, so I'll leave it here. Keep doing your things, work hard and strive to become a real man (you know what I mean). After what I've heard, doing so will probably not be much of a challenge, but I know you to be a serious heartbreaker._

_See you sometime in the future._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Your awesome sensei._

Minato blinked. He then looked up, looking around the room as though he had never seen it before.

"What's up?" Kushina asked, now wearing a pair of red panties and Minato's favourite t-shirt and leaning on her arms against the bed.

"He left me the house." Minato turned to her, and then gave her a trying smile. "I guess you can unpack. If you want to."

"If I want to?" Kushina repeated, then shrugged. "Why not."

Minato raised an eyebrow. What a reply to an offer like this. But before he could make a comment, Kushina had leaned forwards, given him a quick kiss on the cheek and smiled.

"Of course I want to," she said. "Breakfast?"

"Sure," Minato replied, putting the letter on the nightstand and watching her leave the room with an amused frown on his face.

* * *

Minato returned with his team to area five to find the abandoned laboratory. He felt weird about the whole situation. Kakashi, Obito and Rin were walking behind him, looking with slightly open mouths at the person who had joined them.

Next to Minato, the third was walking.

When Minato had returned the day before and reported to the Hokage, the third had reacted at the news of an abadoned laboratory discovered within the strange barrier. He had then told Minato, with a face that was obviously contemplating something, to come back around two o'clock the next day before resuming their mission. It seemed as though the third had spent the rest of the day considering the risk of leaving the village for a few hours, and had come to the conclusion that the village would probably do fine without him.

Exactly why the third had decided to join on this particular mission, Minato had yet to find out, but he couldn't help but feel slightly more authoritative and important with the Hokage himself strolling alongside him, even with Jounin ten years older than him following.

They arrived early that afternoon by the laboratory, and stood for a moment observing the hole in the ground.

"So you fell through this?" the third asked Obito, who nodded fervently. "Charming place."

Minato stopped himself from letting out a sarcastic snort. The third turned to him, gesturing towards the hole with a torch waving in his hand.

"After you, young man."

Minato nodded, crouched and dropped himself down between the tagged edges of twigs, grass and dirt. He stepped aside to let the third follow, and eventually, the room was filled with people. Minato, still being in charge of the mission and therefore still giving orders, had left Nana and her Chuunin companion outside to keep watch, and spread the others into different rooms after a brief search of the place with a thumb against the wall. The third was merely a passenger on this train, but immediately started searching the room they had landed in. Minato had a hundred questions he would like to ask, but kept them to himself for now; he could ask later.

Minato turned on the torch in his hand and pushed open a door which had been originally sealed off, though the seal was so weakened that it was easy to break through it. Entering the room, he found a large desk and empty shelves along the walls except for a few books.

Rin was hurrying after him, and started to look through the shelves. Minato went to the desk. The surface was empty; there was a lamp with a missing bulb, but there were no other objects on the dusty table. He opened the drawers, finding a few items. Pencils, empty sheets, a few bottles of water, a small note book. He checked that Rin was doing all right before he opened it.

It wasn't a note book; it was a sketch book. The first pages were filled with birds, only a few notes scribbled on the bottom of the pages. Though he noticed that as he kept turning pages, the drawings kept turning more and more obscene; the birds turned into mutations, or were dissected. After the birds came monkeys, and after the monkeys came wolves. And then, a photograph fell out of the book and landed on the dirty floor.

He had picked it up and straightened up when he noticed the third standing next to him.

"May I see that?" the third asked. He didn't nod towards the sketch book, but the picture. Minato handed it to him, but shifted to get a good look of it. It was a picture that had been clipped out of a book, with the motive of a white snake on it. For Minato it meant nothing, but as he glanced at the third, he saw him standing with a face full of thoughts and wonder.

"Does it mean anything to you?" Minato asked. The third slowly nodded.

"Later," he told Minato, and turned to find another room to investiage.

Rin got up, shutting a book close. "Nothing," she said. "It's nature books about birds and snakes, mostly."

"So the man who used this lab was researching animals," Minato said. "I found this sketch book as well." He pocketed it before Rin could have a chance to look through it, and followed the third out.

The rest of the lab was more or less empty, or contained the same information Minato had gathered; that whoever this scientist was, animals was his work. There were cages and chains, tables with the same large lamps you could find in a surgery room. Irino was collecting samples from anything they could find. But even though everyone seemed oblivious to whom the scientist was, the third had the look of realization on him. And as they were done searching and Minato ordered everyone out of the lab, the third stayed, gazing at the picture in his hand.

"Do you have any idea who might've used this?" Minato asked.

"Yes," the third said. "It's only a guess, but it's a certain one. And I'm good at guesses." He handed the picture of the white snake back to Minato. "My pupil once found the skin of a white snake on his parents' grave. Ever since, he found it fascinating. He always had a special interest in research, and I know he's done some thorough reading. I don't doubt this was his."

"Orochimaru, you mean?"

"Exactly. He's always kept his work rather private, and I doubt I've seen it all." The third scanned the room again. "An underground laboratory of this quality ... No wonder he left it. A few years more and this will be a mudhole."

"Though why make a barrier that large?" Minato asked. "It was underground and has been sealed before, I could tell – few would have stumbled across it either way."

"Orochimaru has his ways," the third sighed. "Sometimes, it's more trouble than I like. There doesn't seem to have happened anything unreasonable inside these rooms, yet ..."

He went quiet. Minato was sure he knew what he was trying to put into words; Kushina had verbally pronounced what many others felt about the pale Sannin several times before, but Minato had no intention of suggesting them to the third.

"Orochimaru has ambitions," the third said. "And few limitations. Yet he's never really crossed any lines. Though I know what he's capable of, and many people would question his work. He has his reasons for working in secret."

Minato nodded. "Anyway, about this place ... There's nothing else to see here. We should probably seal it off, so no one will fall through it again."

"I'll leave that to you," the third said, walking towards the hole to get back up to the daylight.

Though as Minato prepared the seal to shut the abandoned laboratory off, sealed the rooms away from future oblivious passers-by and led the team back to Konoha, the place cleared and the mission done, he couldn't help but notice that the third had gone unusually silent.

* * *

"So that's it?" Kushina asked, brushing a few red strands away from her face with the hands she kept in a seal.

"Yep, that's it. He didn't say anything else, so I have no idea what's bothering him."

Minato made the necessary hand seals, and as the tips of his fingers glowed green, he could see Kushina clench her jaw and prepare for the shot of pain he was going to inflict on her. He placed the fingers on her stomach, circling her bellybutton, and transferred the chakra flowing in his fingers to the black seal exposed on her stomach.

She flinched, but only for a second.

"There, done," Minato said, gathering the few papers he had spread around him in a bunch and placing them on the saloon table he was sitting at. Kushina sat up on the red couch and looked down at her flat stomach, where the black seal was disappearing.

"So now you can just appear next to me whenever you want?" Kushina asked, lightly touching the area where the seal had previously been.

"No, whenever you need me," Minato smiled. "I promised I wouldn't creep."

"Thank you," Kushina smiled contently, pulling her t-shirt back on (it had originally been Minato's, but she seemed to have adopted it). "I wonder why he got so suspicious, though. I mean, you didn't find anything that looked wrong, right?"

"Well, he didn't exactly turn suspicious," Minato replied, dumping down on the couch and leaning back against the pillows. "He just turned silent and seemed to be thinking a lot about things. From what it looked like, the fact that Orochimaru had a hidden laboratory bothered him more than he said."

"I'd be bothered as well if I knew my student did things behind my back," Kushina said. "Especially things that involves dissecting animals."

"Who told you that?" Minato asked; he hadn't shown her the sketch book yet, nor told her about the surgery room.

"Sensei," she replied. "Met him on my way home. He said it looked quite creepy."

"Right," Minato said. He had never really known her sensei and tended to forget who he was; whenever they were on missions seemed to be the only time he was out of the house, otherwise he was a ghost to the village. Minato had met him on few occassions, but had never spoken to him up til now, and suddenly started wondering whether the man was actually healthy. "Uh, how's he doing?"

"He's fine," Kushina shrugged. "I know he looks like he's constantly drugged on hypnotic medications, but really, it's just how he looks. He doesn't grow older, he just grows more ... tired-looking."

She got up and stretched, yawning widely.

"I'm up early tomorrow," she said. "Care to push me out of the bed?"

"Only if you promise not to knock me down."

"I'll try."

Minato only sighed, mentally preparing ways to escape her fist for the next morning.

* * *

**So Gama is pretty small in this chapter. He doesn't grow large until years later.**

**Feel free to review!**


	37. Trouble

**I find it so amusing how the second seems to have less and less faith in Minato's skills.**

**(Naruto ch. 642)**

* * *

**37. Trouble**

He had almost escaped it.

Sometimes, Minato wondered where Kushina had such good reflects from. He was proud to say he was faster than most people, but in the early hours of morning, tables had turned. It seemed that a sleeping Kushina had a much quicker fist than a half-awake Minato could handle.

So he had spent the morning with an ice bag on his cheek and a girlfriend who seemed unable to stop apologizing. He had mostly wanted to tell her to shut up, but in fear for another fist in his face, he had shut up himself and allowed her to get the ice bag and make coffee and a huge (and delicious) breakfast.

Kushina was gone for three weeks, working as a guard for the Land of Waves while they got some negotiation work done. And even though Minato would have preferred to be alone the first hour of the morning to ease up after the bad start of the day, he was already beginning to notice how he'd miss her presence in the house once he got home.

He spent the first part of the day trying to get anywhere with his new technique. He had at first thought he had found a challenge, but was now beginning to think he had signed himself up for something near-impossible; when he in the end could no longer afford to spend any more chakra, all he had managed to do was to form a smoky shade of blue in his palm without letting it escape. He had to admit it had a cool effect, though it was useless. But it was a small comfort that he had made any progress at all; he figured the speed of the chakra stream that needed to be gathered was too fast for him yet. He just needed some more practice.

The DNA samples were not ready for another few weeks, and while they had no more clues to investigate further, Minato decided to spend the precious time they had by introducing new techniques and skills to his team. While Kakashi had completed his chakra manipulation training, Obito had managed to create a large enough fire ball to threaten a man like Minato, had they only been enemies; and Rin, despite her astoundingly good control of chakra, had barely done any superior techniques of the same level, as she was often training at her medical skills.

"It's time to think about the two of you taking the Chuunin exam soon," Minato said to Obito and Rin as they sat down to take a break.

"Really?" Obito asked, a wide smile appearing on his face.

"You've already worked on missions most Genin haven't," Minato said. "And you've done well, too. And from what I've seen so far, with a little more training, you'll be ready."

"So we can take it this year?" Rin asked.

"We'll see," Minato smiled. "You're still young. It's just a thought, and a goal to train for."

"Kakashi's already a Chuunin," Obito complained; Minato was starting to sense a dangerous mood between the two, and was not in the mood for more fights.

"Kakashi became a Chuunin on special conditions," Minato said, keeping his voice calm, but looked warningly at Obito. "You know this, Obito."

Obito grumbled something. Minato decided not to ask.

"Anyway," he said. "There's one exam this summer, and we'll see if you're ready for it when the time comes. The next will be held in a year."

"A year is a long way off," Obito pouted.

"And in a year, you're still much younger than most people are when they become Chuunin," Minato sighed, suddenly regretting mentioning the Chuunin exams at all. "I was twelve, and I was a year ahead of my classmates. The reason why I'm mentioning it to you now is because I believe you have skill enough to go through an exam, whether you pass it or not; and if you keep training like you do now, you might have a chance to be promoted. I know how fast you've progressed in only one year, and I think it's a waste of talent to keep you from doing things you're able to go through just because you're somewhat younger than expected."

Obito had gone silent, but looked a bit embarrassed for his childish pouting before being called talented.

"Don't worry," Minato smiled, patting Obito's head and trying to encourage him. "You'll be Chuunin one day. And after that, you'll be Jounin."

"And maybe ANBU," Kakashi said; Minato was a little startled to hear Kakashi express a sign for having actual ambitions other than following orders, but had barely opened his mouth before he heard something entirely more surprising.

"And then Hokage!" Obito exclaimed, straightening up. "If we're ready to become Chuunin before everyone else, doesn't that mean something?"

"I didn't say anything about anyone else," Minato said perplexed, but was interrupted.

"If we can get through this Chuunin exam this summer, we're bound to be noticed, right, Rin?" Obito asked Rin eagerly, who blinked in confusion.

"I never said you were one hundred percent ready either -"

But whatever he had of counter-arguments, nothing could stop the Uchiha from expressing his new dream.

Minato sighed and kept a cold bottle of water against his warm forehead. It was barely three o'clock, and he was already missing his bed.

* * *

At the end of the week, Minato cursed himself for mentioning the Chuunin exams. It seemed like Obito had found new things to rant about – Chuunin, Jounin, Hokage – without stopping, and while this seemed too big for Rin to fully understand, Kakashi spent every moment he could trying to get on Obito's nerves.

Minato had declared Sunday as a day off for his whole team, and sat tiredly down at the barbeque with Kousuke.

"You look like you've been through hell," Kousuke commented as he offered Minato a glass of sake and Minato most insistently said no.

"I may have," he replied, taking a large gulp from his glass of water instead. "Kakashi and Obito have been getting on each others' nerves the whole week. I'm telling you, _nothing _I do stops them."

"They should meet one of mine," Kousuke chuckled. "I'll bet he'd get them back on the right track. If not speechless, if you want."

"What d'you mean?" Minato asked with a frown.

"Remember when we were assigned teams, and the third told me that one of mine would be of good help to the other two, who were troublemakers?"

Minato shook his head.

"Anyway, he was right. His name is Gai, and he's ridiculously energetic. In a good way, you know. He spends most of his time challenging people, exclaiming how wonderful everything is, especially about their youth …"

Kousuke adopted a dreamy look, and Minato frowned.

"But," Kousuke said, pointing at him with his chopsticks and cheeks becoming redder with sake. "He could give your Kakashi a good run for his money."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. He became Genin when he was 7, and I'm thinking about signing them up for this year's exam."

Kousuke threw a piece of pork in his mouth and grabbed a napkin, and suddenly noticed something.

"What happened to your face?" he asked, gesturing towards the still-bluish bruise on Minato's cheek.

"Oh, uh, Kushina hit me," Minato mumbled.

"Why, what happened?" Kousuke asked, leaning back with a grin. "Tried to do any nasty things to her or something?"

Minato choked on the pork he was eating, completely unprepared for a question like that.

"You did, didn't you?" Kousuke grinned while Minato hastily drank some water.

"What? It wasn't that – no, I –"

"Seriously?" Kousuke said, now looking more astounded than sly. "You should know better than to set her off, you know, especially like _that_."

"She didn't hit me because of that," Minato said gloomily. "I tried to wake her up."

"Oh," Kousuke said, looking a bit disappointed; then, considering Minato's odd behavior, he asked, "But you still did it, didn't you?"

Minato, due to of a lack of intelligent things to reply with, lifted the water glass to his lips and looked away.

"All right, I won't ask any more," Kousuke said, hands in the air to show defeat. "But I'll take that as a yes."

"'Course you will," Minato said, grabbing his jacket and throwing a few coins on the table. "But not a word to Inoichi."

"Wasn't going to," Kousuke said, getting up. "I know he never shuts up about other people's business. Kushina would be highly unpopular among the girls if they ever found out. Not that she cares, but you know."

"She'd care about you spreading the word around."

"Hey, you're the one who told me first."

"You forced it out of me."

"All right, all right," Kousuke said with a mischievous smile, leading the way out of the barbeque.

* * *

If there was one thing Minato was going to do better, it was to appreciate Kushina's encouraging talk and frequent head massages. After three weeks of hard work, Minato's head was pounding; he was used to long training sessions, food rations and little sleep, but never had his team been such a mess as now. Obito and Kakashi seemed unable to stop their verbal fighting, while Rin and Minato tried hopelessly to break them up.

He was beginning to wonder when Kushina was coming home and if she had mentioned any time and date the morning she had punched him, but found his head too filled with annoyance to be able to remember a detail like that.

Though as he was walking towards the town square to meet Shikaku, he had his question answered.

"Minato!"

He turned around at the so delightfully familiar voice, and found Kushina walking towards him. So relieved to find someone he knew wouldn't bother him more than necessary, he held his arms out and drew her into a tight hug.

"What's up with you?" Kushina said, managing to press out a small, squeezed chuckle.

"I've missed you," Minato mumbled. "And I'm tired."

He released her from the hug, about to ask her how the mission went, when he noticed the troubled expression on her face.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Look, we need to talk," she said quietly. "This might be a bad time, but –"

"Hey, Minato! Over here."

They both turned at the voice speaking, and saw Shikaku approaching them with Inoichi and Chouza following.

Kushina let out an impatient sigh, but couldn't say anything else before the trio had appeared next to them.

"Welcome back, Kushina," Shikaku said, at which Kushina smiled as well as she could. "How was the mission?"

"It was fine, I –"

Minato had been about to interrupt them, asking the trio to give them a moment, when they found another person standing next to them; an ANBU, wearing a bear mask.

"Minato-san, Kushina-san," he said. "The Hokage needs your attention immediately. It's an emergency."

Minato looked at Kushina, but she seemed just as perplexed as him.

"Come on," she mumbled, grabbing his arm and following Bear.

With a last apologetic wave to the trio, they ran towards the Hokage Tower.

"Kushina, is everything all right?" Minato asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she said, and gave him a reassuring smile. "We'll talk about it later."

They arrived at the tower, and without knocking, Bear opened the door to the third's office and announced that he had fetched the last two. Inside the office, in front of the third's desk, stood Kakashi, Obito, Rin, Rabi, Tsume, Kuromaru and Allen, their drowsy-looking, dark-haired sensei, who looked even more tired after the journey to the Waves.

"Good," the third said. "I've just received a message from one of the border squads and I need all of you for this mission. Bear, you can leave."

Bear nodded and left the office, while Minato and Kushina joined the others.

"The daughter of the feudal lord of the Wind was kidnapped by what we've so far assumed are Rain shinobi. They're clueless, but we might be able to help. Now, I know this is an unusual event, seeing as we don't have the best relationship with the Sand, but the thing is, the Rain have, instead of bringing her back to their own country, sneaked her into our forests. They were revealed by one of the border squads yesterday, and the information I've received tells us they plan on keeping her hidden in the Fire Country. The kidnappers killed three of the men who caught them, while the last managed to get back to safety and pass the information on."

"Why would they hide her here?" Obito asked.

"We're not sure yet," the third replied, handing Allen the information sheets.

"Are they trying to put the blame on us?" Minato asked, receiving a few looks from his companions.

"That's our suspicions so far," the third nodded. "The information says they tried to find a good spot to hide her, and that they were planning on making some sort of track. We believe they are trying to lure the Sand into our country to start a conflict, and should they find the feudal lord's daughter, they would naturally believe we had kidnapped her and intended to harm her or use her for negotiation purposes. I have a team who's currently dealing with the Sand, trying to cooperate with them. They would probably just tell us to keep to our own business, but when the Rain have decided to enter our land for criminal activities, it becomes our problem as well. So what I need you to do, is to use whatever tracks we have, find the feudal lord's daughter and the Rain shinobi, bring them to the border nearest the Wind and report back to me. I'll have a back-up team waiting for you there, so you can get in contact with the Sand with the least possibility to start a conflict."

The eight of them nodded.

"Minato, you're responsible for the Rain shinobi," the third said. "Allen, your team goes after the daughter. Cooperate to find the best way to approach and attack."

Minato and Allen nodded.

"Go."

* * *

**Though I don't know if I should be offended on Minato's behalf or just go with it. Though I'm curious to see how he'll handle his part of Kurama!**


	38. Shattered Confidence

**38. Shattered Confidence**

To top it all off, it had started raining heavily. March was always turbulent, but it had been good so far, and Minato couldn't think of any reason why Mother Earth had decided it should rain on that particular day.

He kept glancing at Kushina, who seemed focused on the mission and rarely looked away from the path ahead of her; but the few times she did, something scraped on the film of concentration. They stopped once underneath a particularly thick tree, sheltered from the rain, to get something to eat – they hadn't eaten anything before they left, after all – and Minato took her aside just to make sure nothing was seriously wrong.

"We don't have time to discuss it now," Kushina said. "I don't even know if there's anything to worry about. It's not as important as this, all right?"

Minato nodded half-heartedly. "But ... Is it ..."

Kushina must have read his face, because she smiled, cupping his face with her hands. "It's nothing you've done, all right?"

He nodded again, relieved this time.

"We'll deal with it later," Kushina said. "Don't think about it. You need to focus right now. _We _need you to focus right now. You're in charge, remember?"

"Yeah," Minato said, wiping away a few wet strands of hair which were uncovered of his hood and trying to keep his posture a bit more professional.

There were two things that could keep Minato from thinking about it: one, Kushina didn't seem harmed or injured in any way. Two, even though it seemed like a shared problem (although Kushina had mentioned there might not be anything to worry about), he had at least not been the blame for it.

And so they set off again, other problems in mind.

"How are we going to get them all to the border post later?" Rin asked as they ran down the South-East track, Kuromaru and Tsume in the lead to track down the correct path.

"I still have a few Hiraishin kunai at that particular post," Minato said. "So we just need to knock them out and I'll have us all transported near the cells."

"It's not too far away, is it?" Kushina asked.

Minato smiled and shook his head. "I've improved the distance since last year, so I can take longer trips. Shouldn't be a problem unless we can't find them." He raised his voice to reach out to Tsume. "Tsume, how's it looking?"

Tsume looked around her, sniffing. "I'm not sure," she shouted back. "Many people walk here, it would've been easier if we had anything to compare their smell with. And the rain washes everything away."

"We should choose a smaller path," Allen said behind Minato. Seeing as Minato was in charge of attack, he lay ahead of Allen's team to take any resistance.

"Wait," Tsume shouted. "There're four sets of smells turning here."

"I can smell it, too," Kakashi said through his mask, looking into the dripping forest and stopping along with the others.

"Where does it lead?" Minato asked.

"Far in," Tsume replied. "But these are the only smells that doesn't smell like merchants or civilians."

"We'll have to take the chance," Allen said. "We've already been running further than what we were expected to run."

The others agreed. Minato and his team caught up with Tsume to prepare for a possible ambush or attack, while Allen, Kushina and Rabi fell only a few feet behind. They ran for what seemed like half an hour in total silence, listening to anything at all and searching for footsteps. The rain had naturally washed any evidence of walking people away, but eventually, Tsume could reassure the group that they were getting closer.

"It's clearing," Tsume said. "Their smell. I can definitely smell something foreign, like red sand."

Minato held out his hand to stop the group – everyone stopped synchronously – and crouched, placing a finger on the ground.

"You're right," he said. "Four people, a few hundred feet ahead. Four completely different chakras I've never sensed before."

"Let's make a plan of attack before we burst in," Allen said, crouching drowsily next to Minato. "We need to divert the three kidnappers from the girl. One from the charging team should surprise them; if we're lucky, they haven't noticed us yet. Try to split them up so we can get to the girl first – that's the most important part of the mission – and get her to the border before we take on the rest."

"I can split them up," Minato said. "Kushina probably has the best chance to knock anyone out, so she should take on the surprise. That can be one man down in a moment, and save us from a lot of struggle. She can also use the element of surprise to get to the girl quickly as long as I've managed to separate the rest, and that's when the rest of my team can take on the other two from behind, and you'll get her away from the field."

"But we need to get her to the border at once," Allen said.

"Minato can teleport to me," Kushina said. "And then send us directly to the border and back within seconds."

"All right," Allen said and summed up the plan. "Minato splits them up, Kushina takes out the first. Then the charge team takes care of the rest while we save the girl. And then Minato gets us to the border, and that's where we part."

Minato nodded.

"Let's go."

Silently, yet quickly, they made their way through the thicker and thicker forest towards the place where the four foreigners sat. Tsume held up three fingers, taking one down at a time to show that they were two hundred feet away – one hundred feet away – fifty feet away.

They could hear voices. Unclear, low voices. They hid behind thick trees and peered out to see. The four foreigners had found a small clearing, enough for the four of them to sit in. One of them was small, with long, dark red hair and her hands cuffed. The one holding her in a chain wore the headband of Iwa while he quietly ate a sandwich. The other two sitting opposite them, were huge. They were quite alike – twins, perhaps – with tanned skin, large, muscular bodies and white clothing. Together, they made the girl and the guard miniature in comparison.

Minato drew three kuani in his left hand and motioned for Kushina to come closer. He nodded towards the large men, suggesting they might take out one of those first; naturally, they would go for the guard to begin with, but with two heavy, sour-looking bodyguards like that, taking them out without killing them would be a struggle unless they managed to surprise them one more time. Killing the girl was not in the Earth's intentions, so getting to her first, despite being important, was not necessarily their best option.

As Allen caught up with their plans, he nodded, drawing a kunai to get ready for the attack. Minato sent his team behind the guard and silently told them to wait for his signal. He grabbed Kushina's arm, moving silently away from the tree – had any of them turned their heads or looked up, they would be noticed – and he acted.

The three kunai flew in the air, landing dangerously close to the Iwa shinobi, in the middle of their circle. Each of them threw their food away and was jumping back, splitting up; they had turned their heads and looked right between the trees where the weapons had been thrown, but there were no one there.

A fourth kunai had been thrown, a few feet above one of the large twins' head. Minato and Kushina appeared, Kushina above Minato and Minato holding her around her wrist, creating a shadow above the large twin, making him look up and stare straight into light blue eyes.

With Kushina's fist glowing of furious chakra, Minato did one thing he never thought he'd ever do: he threw her.

The impact was enough to shake the ground, making a loud noise like nearby thunder as the large man was pushed to the ground with immense speed and power. Before Minato landed on the ground, he made a signal, and in the corner of his eyes he could see the guard fall backwards as three ten-year-olds attacked and Allen, Tsume and Rabi appeared by the girl's side, cutting her chains off and leading her away. The large man lay still on the ground, dust surrounding him, red-haired girl above him with her fist dug deep into his stomach. She straightened up and fell behind as the second twin roared and burst forward.

Minato made a few hurried hand seals and made a small hurricane, barely blasting the large, heavy man away. It had been enough to save them time, though.

If it hadn't been for the hand sticking up from the ground.

It had grabbed Minato by the ankle; he had sensed it the moment before and drawn his sword, and was now digging it deep in the ground. The hand lost its grip around him and they fell back.

"There're three men underneath us!" Minato shouted. How had they not noticed? Their smell and chakra should have been detected long ago, yet no one had sensed them. The guard was down thanks to Kakashi, Obito and Rin, but they now had more than expected to deal with.

"We have to get to the girl," Kushina said as the three new men emerged from the ground in front of the heavy twin, making a barrier between them and the girl. They were all wearing the same sort of uniform, but in different colors; red, green and blue. The green man had a bloody gash on his shoulder from Minato's sword. They attacked before Minato could make a new plan, so he drew his swords. They had no other option than to fight their way through. Constantly making sure his team managed, he got into a fight of speed between himself and the green man. In the background, the second twin was crouching by his brother, doing nothing to contribute to the fight. Allen and Rabi were disappearing with the girl, but Tsume and Kuromaru had lingered and was now coming back to fight.

Minato though they were about to prevail when he heard a shriek behind him; turning, he saw Obito and Kakashi fall to the ground and the red man pick up a fainted Rin. The green man attacked and he had to block, and he kicked him away, turning to see the red man run.

The large man had attacked before any of them could react. With one large blast, blue of chakra and explosive, he landed a fist straight in the middle of Kushina's stomach.

Minato could see the damage it had done by simply watching her face turn shocked; her eyes widened, her mouth slightly open but not making a single sound. Seconds after the blast landed, Minato appeared next to her and kicked the man out of her way with the strongest force he could muster. The green and blue men had withdrawn their weapons and were following the red man.

"Rin!" Obito shouted, getting up.

"Obito, don't go after them!" Minato shouted and turned as the large man charged at him; he couldn't simply avoid the attack, or he would hit Kushina; quickly drawing hand seals, he blasted the man away with a stronger Wind technique that made the man stumble and fall, just as he heard Kuromaru barking behind him.

He turned again. Kushina was crouching on the ground, coughing up blood.

"We have to get her away from here!" Tsume shouted. "Something's wrong with her – Minato –"

"I'll take you back to the border," Minato heard himself say and ran towards Kushina, where Tsume was crouching. "Kakashi, Obito, I'll be back in a few seconds, wait for me here -"

He saw Kakashi nod and Obito stare out in the distance before he dropped a Hiraishin kunai, transported the three of them back to the border, and with a last reassurance from Tsume that she would take care of her, returned to the point of battle, where he immediately drew his two swords and put them together to make a double-bladed sword, and attacked.

The new surprise had been just surprising enough to give him time to stab the large man in the chest. His skin was astoundingly thick and hard, but the injury had been enough.

"I thought we weren't supposed to kill them?" Kakashi asked as the twin fell to the ground with a loud crash.

"I didn't," Minato said and wiped some wet hair away from his face again. His hood had fallen off. "I avoided his vitals. We'll get back here later and bring them to the border."

"I can't see her anymore," Obito said with a voice full of angst.

"Kakashi can track them," Minato said. "They can't have run far. We'll get her back."

The words were reassuring enough with his voice so full of confidence, yet something inside him had started tearing up. The stress of the situation, the fact that they couldn't get the girl to the border quicker, the serious injury Kushina had received and the men who had dragged Rin away; a picture flashed in his mind of a young boy and a young girl, lying on the ground, red blood mixing with the water around them, while he stared in their empty eyes.

He tried to shake the memory off. He couldn't.

Leaving the Hiraishin kunai and the large twins behind, they set off in the thick, wet and muddy forest.


	39. Once Upon a Time

**And while I'm trying to make something out of chapter 40, here's a short-story.**

_- Ryan Adams: "Wonderwall" (Love is Hell)_

* * *

**39. Once Upon a Time**

_Suna was warmer than Konoha. Minato had at least drunk four bottles of water since they left the village, and they had a long way home._

"_Koichi," he said, handing his teammate a bottle of water. The water had gone lukewarm, but it was better than nothing._

_At the academy, they had called him Koi. Minato had never called him that. He had never been able to compare him with fish._

"_See, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" Mariko said, gazing proudly at the scroll in her hand with her large, purple eyes._

_Minato looked at Jiraiya. He had his jaw clenched, and Minato knew why. They had been lucky._

_They walked for hours. Koichi and Mariko were relaxed; maybe too relaxed. Minato kept his guard up for compensation. Jiraiya several times looked like he wanted to say something, interrupt Mariko's constant blabbering, but kept his mouth shut. Their team had been on the verge of tearing, and saying something that could recreate the conflict was not a good move._

_They stopped by a river to refill their bottles and take a break. In the shade of the trees, they sat down on the bank while Jiraiya stepped into the chill water and lowered bottle after bottle in the river, shut the lids and threw them back on land._

"_Maybe we can get another mission when we're home," Mariko said. "Since this went well, I mean."_

"_Mariko," Jiraiya said sternly. "You're eleven."_

"_So?" Mariko said with a cocked eyebrow. "Minato's eleven."_

"_Minato is –"_

"_- several years ahead of us, yeah, yeah."_

"_What I meant to say," Jiraiya said through gritted teeth. "Is that we're not home yet, and far from out of danger. This mission isn't done until we're home without injuries and have delivered the scroll. Until that happens, nothing suggests this mission went well."_

_Mariko grumbled something unclear._

"_You shouldn't take this lightly," he continued. "It's your first B-ranked mission, yet you're acting as though nothing could happen. Keep your guard up!"_

"_Yeah, yeah," Mariko said, yawned and stretched._

_Minato sat up abruptly and grabbed Mariko by her collar. "Mariko, get down!"_

_It had happened so quickly. Not another word to exchange before everything had happened._

_There was blood on the ground. The tree which they had been sitting underneath had been stabbed by a kunai. Right where Mariko's face would have been, had Minato not heard the sound of the airborne kunai coming at them and pulled her down in time._

_They could hear thunder in the distance. Twenty-three bodies lay spread around the grass. Minato stood in the river, blood flowing around his cold legs. Blood coming from the two bodies on the bank, with their upper bodies on land and the rest in the water._

_He stared at their open eyes. They didn't stare back._

_Border squad soldiers from Konoha had come. They carried them home._

_It was the first time Minato had killed._

_They came back to the village, and Minato suddenly didn't feel like moving. Every step felt heavy. He wanted to go home to his apartment where no one could ask him questions. Instead, they walked to the Hokage tower._

"_What happens now?" Minato asked quietly when they sat waiting for the Hokage in his office. The sun was setting._

"_I'm going to keep you alive," Jiraiya replied._

_Minato looked at him. _

_Jiraiya sighed. "I wish I could mean that."_

"_What d'you mean?" Minato asked._

"_War, Minato."_

_The war was a rumor._

_He had hidden from Kushina. He was ashamed. Ashamed that he had the privilege of taking difficult missions. Ashamed that he hadn't watched over them. Ashamed that they, innocent as they were, had died instead of him._

"_Don't think like that," Jiraiya had told him. Minato hadn't even said anything. He had just looked ashamed._

_Kushina had been angry with him for avoiding her. After that, she had hugged him. She never asked him about anything._

_He had sworn to protect her ever since that day. Just not out loud._

_Yet he knew it was a promise that was impossible to keep._

* * *

**I just learned that Minato was still at the academy during the second war, which I feared before I started writing on this story, but in order for my story to work out it just so happens that I moved the whole war. There are so many facts to consider I can't get all of it right.**


	40. Dark Rain

**I think one challenge of writing is to not mix 'him' and 'her' by mistake. Sometimes I won't notice I used the wrong phrase, and Minato is suddenly a woman.**

_- Gary Jules: "Mad World" (Donnie Darko)_

* * *

**40. Dark Rain**

Their clothes clung to their skin like glue. Mud and water splashed from the ground as they ran, leaving their black shoes brown. Minato had black bandages covering his legs and right arm again, and they had so far been repelling any form of dirt, but the medical bandages covering the still healing burn mark on his left arm had gone from pure white to dirty gray.

Rin would have told him to change them.

"I can sense them," Minato informed as a familiar signature disturbed the air around them. "We're catching up. Get ready."

He could see Kakashi and Obito draw one kunai each; both with determinedly set faces, but Obito with a nervousness uncovered by his eyes. Minato drew a Hiraishin kunai himself and picked up the pace. His two accomplices followed his lead; they were closing in and the three men had probably heard them through the rain, or more likely sensed them in the air –

Minato quickly measured the distance between them and threw the kunai.

"Charge immediately," he said as the kunai flew, closing in, closing in. "Avoid heart and head regions."

"Roger," Kakashi said, and Obito managed a nod with a strangled 'uh-huh'.

Minato disappeared from their side, an echo left behind, and appeared before the red man, aiming his foot towards the stomach region and kicking the air out of him. He caught Rin before she could hit the ground and backed off as both the green and the blue men turned to attack him; a large fire ball separated them and Minato had for a moment no record of what was happening on the other side before the flames quickly died out due to the furiously falling rain, and he could see Kakashi and Obito in full battle with green and blue.

He knew immediately that a Chuunin and a Genin were an easy match for two seemingly high-leveled Jounin, but in a matter of seconds, he was impressed with the two boys' battle skills.

As Minato placed Rin carefully against a tree and conjured a Kage Bunshin, he saw the green man barely able to avoid a sharp stroke of lightning coming from Kakashi's hands. In the meantime, Obito had foreseen green's move and flung a kunai towards him; it hit him in the shoulder painfully. The blue man charged, but failed to see the heavier, three-pronged kunai flying right behind him; just as Kakashi knocked green out, Minato placed his palm on blue's back and inflicted a short, sharp pain on him. The two men fell to the muddy ground, unconscious.

Obito was already running towards Rin and the Kage Bunshin. Minato and Kakashi tied the hands of the robed men with one long rope.

"Something's wrong with her," Obito shouted, worry clear in his voice. "She's not responding."

Minato picked up the Hiraishin kunai he had used and hurried over. Something was definitely not right; Rin's eyes were slightly open, but her face looked completely defeated, and her body didn't even flinch.

"What's going on?" Obito asked as Minato lifted her chin up, and her faced looked just as motionless as before.

"She's been put under some sort of paralyzing technique," Minato said and dismissed his Kage Bunshin. "We'll have to take her to the border."

"Ready to go," Kakashi shouted, red, green and blue bundled together.

"It's not permanent, is it?" Obito asked, getting up.

"Probably not," Minato said, keeping the same confident voice as earlier as he picked the girl up. "Nothing I can decide, but these men wouldn't have gained anything by permanently paralyzing her. The techniques for that are quite complicated and take longer time than what they had."

Obito seemed half-convinced and walked silently towards Kakashi and the bundled men. Minato crouched, reached out and grabbed the rope tying the three men together. With Rin over his shoulder and Kakashi and Obito grabbing his out-reached arm, he channeled his chakra and made one quick single-hand seal, and when he opened his eyes, he looked straight at a large man who was about to wake up.

"We have to hurry," he said. "Obito, take Rin."

Obito did as he was told, keeping an extra careful grip around her while Minato walked over to the large twin, did a number of hand seals and placed one palm on his head. A moment later, the eyes of the twin were closed and he lay motionless.

"This will take some effort …" Minato mumbled, pulling the three tied-up men towards him and connecting the two twins and the guard to the same rope. There were several people to transport – more than he was used to - nine people, along with himself.

"You could take two trips," Obito suggested.

Minato shook his head. "It would take just about the same amount of chakra. I'll just have to concentrate one level higher."

He made a firm grip around the single rope connecting their six enemies. Kakashi grabbed the arm, and Obito made a number out of carefully and securely placing Rin's hand on Minato's arm with his own before using his other hand to connect himself. Once again, Minato channeled chakra into the ropes and made the single-hand seal. The blood on the ground reached his nose, and he was reminded of whose blood it was. He was suddenly very aware of what was waiting for him at the border post.

"_We need you to focus."_

_Right. Focus …_

He opened his eyes and felt drained. He filled his lungs with fresh, cold air and it came out again as steam. People were running towards them, and he could see the old, white sheets of the border post's prison tent.

"Obito, Kakashi, take Rin to the emergency tent," he ordered, and they didn't hesitate.

"Are there more coming?" a Chuunin who had approached them asked, counting the men in the bundle.

"Of enemies, no," Minato replied. "Are Allen and Rabi back with the girl yet?"

"Not yet, no," the Chuunin said. "But we detected someone crossing the barrier of our area not long ago. I sent men to investigate."

"Let's hope it's them. Where do you want these?"

"Cells five to ten."

"Right."

Minato grabbed the rope again, and was gone within a second and a half. He appeared within the sheets of the tent that were covering large iron cells, and heard a yelp behind him and what sounded unmistakably as a spilled cup of coffee.

"My bad," he said and tried to smile, turning to face the young woman who was guarding the cells. "I take it most people use the entrance."

"Mostly," the woman breathed in a bemused way, absently reaching for a napkin. Minato recognized her as one of the girls who had once spent annoying amounts of time and effort on asking him out, but decided to not show any sign of recognizing. Instead, he started to remove the rope from the six men, and asked if he could throw each of them in whichever cell he liked.

He felt tired. He kept his mind empty, using his remaining strength on carrying four rather average men and two rather large, spreading them across the six cells. In the corners of his eyes he could see the two other prisoners gaze at him with mild interest. The woman – Naiki, wasn't it? – locked the cells one after the other, and Minato gave her a polite nod and left the tent.

He knew his task was to inform the general of the squad about the mission, but his personal feelings distracted him just enough to carry him towards a white tent with a large, red cross above its entrance. The emergency tent was similar to the one at the border post he had been stationed at during the war; a long, white hallway of sheets with rooms of fabric and various sizes on each side. A medic-nin sat by a small table, noting something on a list.

"Here to see someone?" she asked, not looking up from her list.

"Nohara Rin," he said. "And Uzumaki Kushina."

The medic-nin sighed, took her glasses off and looked up at him. It had no reassuring effect on him.

"You won't be able to see them right away, I'm afraid," she said. Minato forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat. "The little girl has, as far as I know, not received any permanent damage, but it was more complicated than we thought. She's being watched over, she'll be all right. But she's still not responding."

Minato nodded curtly.

"And …?"

"The older girl is still in for treatment at the surgery room."

Minato blinked.

"Wh … Surgery?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not allowed in there so I don't know anything else," the medic-nin sighed, giving him a sympathetic look.

Minato looked down the hall. Only then did he see the trail of spilled blood on the dirty-white floor.

"But …" he started, but didn't know what he had planned to ask.

"Minato."

He turned around, finding the face of a tired Tsume. Before he could respond, she nodded towards the entrance of the tent.

"Allen and Rabi are back with the girl," she said, starting on her way out. Minato had no choice but to follow, and soon felt the heavy rain that fell from the dark sky and onto his head. "They're all fine. We're heading to see the Sand's feudal lord in a moment. The general of the squad is looking for you, you have to report to him."

"Okay," Minato said. "Do you have full manning?"

"A team was sent ahead to explain the situation," Tsume replied, looking ahead of her. "And we have a back-up team with us. Should be fine."

"Right," he said, as Tsume pointed out where the general of the squad was currently at and they were about to part ways. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

"Tsume, wait."

She turned. "Minato," she said, her face expressing apology. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

He looked confused at her. She looked as though she realized something, closed her eyes for a few seconds and sighed.

"And neither did you."

"What're you talking about?"

"Kushina. The attack inflicted internal bleedings on her. They'll be healed, she's stabilized."

"And …?" Minato continued for her when he saw she wasn't done explaining.

"I'm sorry, Minato. The major part of the injury was centered at her stomach. She had a miscarriage."

It was not what Minato had expected. He could for a moment do nothing but stare back at Tsume, whose face was showing all the sympathy she could offer, and his mind was about as blank as earlier. He couldn't think how it had happened in the first place, but realized it was simply his carelessness. Yet he couldn't bring himself to say anything. No words were formed in his head, the lump in his throat seemed even bigger and even though he was staring at the girl who had recently explained something so unforeseen and could probably say much more, he found himself unable to do anything.

He didn't know where to place himself.

* * *

He had given his report. The words coming out of his mouth seemed distant to him, as though he had acted automatically; the moment he had been given permission to leave, he had stopped right outside the tent's entrance and just stood there, not even noticing the cold rain. It was as though the closer he came to the emergency tent, the more real everything would become.

The only thing that made him move was the fact that both Rin and Kushina could still be in danger.

Inside the tent, he found everything to be surreal. The chair and table at the entrance was empty and the blood trails had been washed away, and it seemed like a lie.

Rin was alive. She had her eyes closed and was breathing peacefully as though she was only taking a nap. She was warm, but not dangerously.

"She has some sort of strange substance inside her," a medic-nin had explained as Minato had quietly seated himself on a chair next to her, Obito and Kakashi. "We thought it was poison at first. But it seems to have spread to her brain cells, taking away her ability to function properly. We have records of the same substance used during the second war, and we can assure you it's not permanent, but the treatment takes a long time. Depending on the dose she was given, she won't be fully functioning for at least two months."

Only when a second medic-nin – a chief physician, it seemed - entered the room did he feel his heart beating again.

"Namikaze-san," he had said, at which Minato had looked up and felt as though a bucket of ice cold water had been poured over him. The medic-nin's cloak was red with blood.

They sat in a small room, dim light over a table with papers and white, empty chairs.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of Kushina's situation," the medic-nin said.

Minato only nodded shortly, and for no reason at all found it irritating and offensive that the medic-nin had called what had happened '_her situation'_.

"We just moved her to rest," the medic-nin continued, oblivious to Minato's annoyance. "You can see her in a bit, but I would like to explain a few things first. " He placed a few documents on the table. "The internal bleedings were astoundingly quickly stopped, and she stabilized quickly. I'm aware of her classification, and it may have saved her life. Unfortunately, the secondary chakra will only allow her to heal cuts and minor fractures. It even prevents scars. But when it comes to large injuries, like poisoning, cell damage and torn organs, the damage is too permanent for automatic chakra responses to work properly. She will be fine, I can promise you that, but the damage was mainly taken by her uterine. It was torn severely enough to cause a miscarriage –" Minato felt nauseous as he spoke, "- and to probably cause a life-long damage. The chances of her carrying a child again are near zero."

Minato leaned back in the chair, looked at the wall in front of him and slightly pulled his hair with both hands. He could feel his heart beating harder against his chest, and his hands were trembling. He kept his mouth closed, feeling that if he opened it he would have no control of the words that could come out, and frowned. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this way.

"You can go see her now," the chief physician said. "She's probably asleep, but she said she wanted to see you."

The chief physician got up and left Minato in the dimmed room. Minato tried to take a deep breath. It was shaky and cold. He pushed himself up from the wooden chair, and was suddenly not sure if the coldness he felt on his skin came from the wet clothes he was wearing.

The hallway felt much longer than before. After what seemed ages, he pushed the fabric separating him from Kushina's room away and stepped inside. She was lying underneath thick blankets on a sterile bed with her back facing him, breathing steadily. And he just stood there, his blank mind leading him nowhere.

She had noticed him, and turned her head slowly. He found himself moving again towards her bed as she was sitting up, eyes so full of emotion and still so lost, and about to speak. He just shook his head – she didn't have to say anything – and tried to smile, tried to be reassuring and calm and safe, but he couldn't force the sad frown on his face away, and the smile felt out of place. He was shaking; she gently pulled him towards her, forcing him to sit down on the bed, and noticed how cold he was.

She probably thought he was shaking because of the wet clothes. She removed his soaked jacket, helped him take off the straps carrying his two swords. He reached out a hand, placing it behind her head in the midst of her tangled hair. He wanted to say something, anything at all; he could have asked her how she felt, if she needed something, if there was anything he could do for her. And yet the only thing he managed to do was to lean in, rest his forehead against hers and close his eyes in a pained expression.

She drew him close to her, wrapping her arms around him and letting him rest his head on her shoulder. And then she realized.

He was crying for the first time in his life.

* * *

**Minato has one particular soft spot and weakness. Children.**


	41. Hope

**I wonder if Kakashi will show up again in the manga any time soon.**

_- Imagine Dragons: "Round and Round" (Continued Silence EP)_

* * *

**41. Hope**

There were risks. He already knew that; why was she reminding him?

"Other risks, Minato," Kushina said, looking up at him with a meaningful expression.

Minato didn't reply. He waited for her to continue while his hand absently ran through her tangled hair.

She sat up, and his hand continued to glide through her hair. He looked at the red strands running through his fingers.

Only when she reached out a hand and stroke gently over his still drying cheek with her thumb was he called back to reality. He sat up as well; she looked nervous, and he decided to lean in and give her a small kiss, just to remind her that no matter what risks there were, he had already told her none of them bothered him. The kiss tasted salty.

"What risks?" he then asked.

"All right," Kushina began. She had then told him. The risks of being a Jinchuuriki carrying a child.

Minato leaned his head and arms against his knees, staring at the wall.

"When Mito-sama gave birth, her seal almost failed … Or so I was told."

Kushina had then gone quiet for a while.

"Maybe it's for the best," she mumbled. "Maybe it's better that I won't be able to …" She swallowed. "Maybe it would've been too dangerous."

"But you want it, don't you?"

Kushina nodded quietly. "Ever since my parents … I just wanted to recreate everything. Make a family of my own. Keep them safe."

"You said almost."

Kushina frowned at him. "Huh?"

"The seal _almost_ broke. That means there still are ways, right?"

"Yeah, but …"

Minato looked at her, and for the first time that night managed to smile genuinely. Still leaning his head on his knees he reached out a hand and let his hand glide through her hair again.

She had looked confused, but couldn't help smiling too.

* * *

The rain had finally stopped. A few streaks of sunlight peeked tryingly through the dissolving clouds, and the morning birds of the border post glanced up at the warm light. The trees were still dripping, but the atmosphere was something quite different.

For Minato, it didn't really matter if it rained or not. He hadn't fallen asleep that night, but the girl resting on his chest had. Half of him wished to stay like that for a long time – he felt drained of all energy and was really not in the mood for talking – but half of him hoped Kushina would wake up soon; her breath was beginning to tickle.

When she shifted her head, drew a particularly deep breath and released it all down his neck, sending unpleasant shivers down his spine, he decided it was good time to get up. As carefully as he could to not wake her up, he pulled himself away from Kushina and dragged his arm back from underneath her. After covering her more thoroughly with the blanket, he walked over to the sink. Leaning on it and glaring in the stained mirror in front of him he could see just how tired he looked; his eyes were red and his face lacked any kind of expression of engagement. Turning on the sink, he splashed some cold water in his face before he reached for a towel and buried his face in it with a sigh.

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Despite having all night, the hooded jacket was still wet. Minato would have preferred to hide underneath it, but was forced to leave Kushina's room in his stained black t-shirt only, which was still damp enough to cling to his body.

He was not allowed to see Rin, who was currently under careful observation, and instead had a rather quiet breakfast with his team. Obito merely looked at his food as though it made him nauseous, and Minato had to admit his appetite was pretty low at the moment as well, but forced himself to eat. He needed the energy to keep his concentration at its best – which was difficult enough with all the things going through his mind – and to not fall asleep. The only thing that kept him working at all was the fact that Kushina had not yet let go of any sort of hope, and he'd naturally have to do the same. For her.

While Kakashi and Obito had been exempt from missions that day, Minato had to spend the first part of the day by the cells, keeping watch. The six prisoners he had delivered the day before had been healed and woken up, but only sat in the shadows quietly while Minato placed a chair in front of cell number eight and sat down, leaned his elbows against his legs and started reading through a long, tiring report the general of the post had made about the new prisoners.

Ikue and Itani. Twins. Occupation: bodyguards. Jailed for kidnapping Aria of the Wind. Outani. Newly promoted Jounin. Jailed for kidnapping Aria of the Wind. Three unknown soldiers. Brothers. Jailed for attempted kidnapping and poisoning of Nohara Rin. All originating from the Land of Earth. All jailed for attempted sabotage of the peace between the Fire and the Wind.

Naiki had previously been the only one watching the cells, sometimes changing shifts with other Chuunin who had the time. Though now, when the prisoners had gone from two to eight, stronger security was provided. She sat by her table by the wall, reading through a newspaper with the regular cup of coffee, and Minato could sometimes feel her eyes on his neck, but tried to ignore it. Flipping through page after page, he reached the end of the report.

"You're worth a few million, aren't you."

Minato didn't bother to look up from the report and into the shadows; neither did he bother make a reply.

The large twin, Ikue, with a bandage covering the fresh stab wound on his chest, got up from the floor and with remarkable speed suddenly stood by the grid separating the inches between them, disturbing the air and making hair, clothes and papers rustle. He crouched, resting one knee on the floor, and he was still somewhat taller than Minato; he clenched the grid, and the chains between his hands made a sharp noise as iron hit iron. Naiki's eyes were now piercing his neck anxiously, yet Minato was still busy reading the report.

"If you're delivered to Hanzou of the Salamander, the reward is even bigger."

Minato flipped to the last page of the report. "And?"

"Well, one can hope."

"Don't hope too soon."

Ikue grinned, and Minato merely shifted his eyes from the second sentence on the page and up to the wicked face of the prisoner. It was visible in the large man's eyes – Minato was ready before it happened.

A thick arm shot out through the grid towards Minato's throat, tearing the chains apart, but Minato had already tossed the report to the floor and was getting up, avoided the hand by inches and aimed at the still healing wound on Ikue's chest. With sharp speed, Minato shoved his fist towards the wound and the result was as predicted; the pain distracted Ikue for seconds in which Minato grabbed his shoulder and twisted it, sending him towards the ground. Ikue lay on his back groaning, shoulder stuck between the iron grids, staring up at a pair of ice cold eyes.

Naiki had in the few seconds it lasted managed to get up and throw her paper away.

"I'm curious," Minato said, yet his voice sounded darker than usual and he even surprised himself. "After you'd killed me, what were you going to do?"

Ikue, despite the pain Minato had inflicted on him, chuckled; an unpleasant laugh.

"I killed her, didn't I."

"No."

Ikue looked somewhat disappointed. "Really. Well, she's a first."

Minato gave the large man's shoulder a hard kick, releasing his dislocated shoulder from the grid, before he picked up the report again and sat down to read through it once more. Ikue staggered to his feet, and with a painful move fixed the shoulder on his own, before he retreated back to the shadows to think out strategies.

Minato checked the clock hanging on the wall. Nine in the morning.

He sighed.

* * *

**Seriously, listen to that song. I can't stop playing it.**


End file.
